Trump elevates Saudi Arabia as one of his main allies outside NATO

Donald Trump elevated Saudi Arabia as one of his top allies. The president made the announcement during the gala dinner in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In addition, the Republican highlighted the historic nature of the event at the White House, given that it took place 80 years after the first meeting between an American president and a Saudi king.

Trump has always shown interest in strengthening ties with Saudi Arabia. That was even the destination of choice for his first state visits, both in 2017 and 2025.

"Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we are taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally," the president said during his speech. "I’m just telling you for the first time because I wanted to keep a little secret for tonight," he added.

He also highlighted the "opening of new avenues of cooperation" between the two countries, for example, at the trade level: "It is unprecedented."

"On that trip, Saudi Arabia announced that it will invest an incredible $600 billion. And today I told him that, anyway, he can increase it. And today I said, anyway, you can up that. And he said, 'I am going to up that to $1 trillion'. So he's investing $1 trillion into the United States," Trump celebrated.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Elon Musk and other important guests at the gala dinner

The gala dinner was attended by prominent figures from the political, business and sports worlds. The most striking presence was Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese soccer legend, whom Trump specifically thanked.

"My son is a big fan. He was able to meet him. I think he respects his father a little bit more now because I introduced you," he noted during the speech.

From the business world, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook were part of the dinner with the Saudi prince. This was the first time the owner of X was seen in the president's entourage since the two shared a meeting during Charlie Kirk's funeral.

Also present were Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson and the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.