Trump: I hope Saudi Arabia will join the deal with Israel soon.
Speaking at the Miami Business Forum in Florida on Wednesday evening, amid a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, Donald Trump reiterated his hope that he could build on one of his first-term foreign policy achievements, the Abraham Accords, a compromise agreement to establish diplomatic and trade relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco.
“I hope we have Saudi Arabia soon,” he said, with Princess Reema Bandar al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, in the audience.
Trump reiterated his claims about the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that the attacks would be a key factor in countries joining the compromise agreement with Israel.
“Everybody said it was great. They’ve been waiting for this for 20 years. A lot of countries are on the path to a peace agreement with Israel. The defining moment was when we took out Iran’s nuclear capability,” the US president said.
“We’re doing a great job on peace in the Middle East, and we just have to keep doing it,” Trump said. “There hasn’t been peace in the Middle East for three years, and we’re going to get it. What we’ve achieved in the Middle East, thanks to my envoys, Steve Whitaker and my son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been amazing.”
Riyadh’s joining the normalization agreement with Israel is seen by the Republican Trump administration as a major step toward its goal of stabilizing the Middle East.
South Africa Should Be Removed from G20
In a speech that was ostensibly focused on economic issues, the US president said South Africa should not be a member of the G20, the world’s largest and emerging economies.
“South Africa should no longer be in the G20, because things are very bad there,” Trump said.
He reiterated that he would not attend the annual G20 summit, which is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg later this month.
Trump has had strained relations with South Africa since the beginning of his administration, and earlier this year, he had a tense meeting with the country’s president at the White House.
Trump mocks Saudi ambassador over Thanksgiving dinner prices
In his speech in Miami, Trump again aimed Saudi Ambassador to Washington Princess Reema Bandar al-Saud, while pointing to positive economic data, including Walmart’s announcement that it would significantly reduce the price of food for Thanksgiving.
“This is a big deal. I don’t know if it matters in Saudi Arabia, but it matters here. We have the princess of Saudi Arabia, she has a lot of money, a lot of money. And she’s a wonderful person. So she doesn’t care if the price of turkey is a little bit lower. You know, she doesn’t have to worry about it,” Trump continued, addressing the Saudi ambassador.