TRUMP'S BLOODY JOBS
The outrage over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has intensified the scrutiny of Saudi Arabia's relationship with the United States. A key question is whether any tension between the two nations would jeopardize Saudi deals to buy U.S. weapons.
Saudi Arabia's oil-rich monarchy is one of America's most important strategic partners in the Middle East and a significant patron of U.S. defense companies. Still, while the kingdom is the top buyer of U.S.-made weapons, the sales aren't quite as big as President Donald Trump has been boasting about.
Between 2013 and 2017, Riyadh accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. arms sales or about $9 billion, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In short, Saudi Arabia remains America's No. 1 weapons buyer.
Trump, meanwhile, recently praised Riyadh's ambitions to buy $110 billion worth of U.S.-made arms, a figure that has yet to manifest in State Department or Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcements.
The president has cited the importance of the weapons deals, pushing back on potentially slapping retaliatory sanctions on Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's fate.
"I tell you what I don't want to do," Trump said to CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, when asked about blocking arms sales to Riyadh. "Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these [companies]. I don't want to hurt jobs. I don't want to lose an order like that. There are other ways of punishing, to use a word that's a pretty harsh word, but it's true."
'They're spending $110 billion on military equipment'
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/saudi-arabia-top-us-weapons-buyer-but-doesnt-spend-as-much-as-trump-boasts.html.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/saudi-arabia-top-us-weapons-buyer-but-doesnt-spend-as-much-as-trump-boasts.html.
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