$100 billion arms deal? Couldn’t we just negotiated this in barrels of oil to help drop the price at the pump- PB/TK
US nears $100bn arms deal for Saudi Arabia in time for Trump’s visit – Reuters l May 12 2017
The United States is close to completing a series of arms deals for Saudi Arabia totaling more than $100bn, a senior White House official said on Friday, a week ahead of Donald Trump’s planned visit to Riyadh.
The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the arms package could end up surpassing more than $300bn over a decade to help Saudi Arabia boost its defensive capabilities while still maintaining US ally Israel’s qualitative military edge over its neighbors.
“We are in the final stages of a series of deals,” the official said. The package is being developed to coincide with Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia. Trump leaves for the kingdom on 19 May, the first stop on his maiden international trip.
Reuters reported last week that Washington was pushing through contracts for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, some new, others already in the pipeline, ahead of Trump’s visit.
Toward the end of the Obama administration, the US was preparing to halt some planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia over concerns of high civilian death tolls in the kingdom’s bombing campaign in Yemen.
Continue to theguardian.com article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/12/us-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-donald-trump-visit
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