The red carpet was rolled out when bin Salman arrived and was received by Trump shortly after 5 p.m., Swedish time.
Cannons fired salutes, mounted soldiers paraded past and fighter jets flew overhead before the two leaders disappeared into the White House.
Proud of the prince's work
At a press conference in the Oval Office ahead of the deliberations, Trump praised bin Salman – who is visiting the United States for the first time since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi – for doing “fantastic” work “on human rights.”
"I'm proud of the work he's done," Trump said.
During the press conference, Bin Salman sugarcoated an earlier promise to invest $600 billion in the United States. The new figure is $1,000 billion.
Real investments and real opportunities, said the Crown Prince.
Trump has previously announced that the US will most likely sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns from Israel. Cooperation agreements on nuclear energy development and AI infrastructure are also on the agenda.
“Didn’t know anything”
Donald Trump dismissed a question from an ABC reporter about Khashoggi, calling the regime critic and Washington Post writer an "extremely controversial" person who "many people didn't like."
Things are happening and he (bin Salman) knew nothing about it, Trump said.
On the contrary, American intelligence has determined that bin Salman was likely the one who ultimately ordered the murder of Khashoggi, who disappeared during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Bin Salman, in turn, described the murder as “painful” and a “big mistake.”
"We are doing our best to ensure this does not happen again," he said.
Want to normalize
According to the crown prince, Saudi Arabia wants to normalize relations with Israel by signing the so-called Abraham Accords, but he says that this requires the formation of a Palestinian state.
– We want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we also certainly want to be able to see a clear path towards a two-state solution.
