WASHINGTON—Biden administration officials consider dissuading U.S. companies from expanding business ties with Saudi Arabia as part of U.S. response to recent push for global production cuts by Saudi-led oil producers. said three current and former US officials. with discussion.
The administration will also not send U.S. officials to Saudi Arabia’s annual Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh next week, officials said, but senior government officials said the OPEC+ alliance will cut oil production on Oct. 5. He said the decision was made before announcing it. 2 million barrels a day. Officials said they were unable to schedule a high-profile visit to the high-profile meeting, sometimes called “Davos in the Desert,” a prized event for Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, the crown prince. person said. Muhammad bin Salman.
How to use American business as leverage against Saudi Arabia, as President Joe Biden says he is reassessing his regime’s relationship with the kingdom and looking at ways to retaliate against Riyadh over its decision to produce oil. I’m looking for Current and former U.S. officials said no decision had been made on whether to pursue such an effort. He said it was just one of the options under consideration as he considered how to balance it with responding without compromising uniting Israel and its Arab neighbors.
The idea behind the move to reduce US corporate investment in Saudi Arabia is that it can influence the kingdom without directly affecting US security in the region, but US companies will listen. There is also the risk that there will be no
For now, US companies will be in full force at next week’s Future Investments Initiative conference, which brings together business executives, investors, and government officials. The event, also known as MBS, has become a platform for the crown prince to showcase his business opportunities in the kingdom.
Officials conceded that even if the administration wanted to, it would be too late to influence voter turnout of American business executives at this year’s conference, which begins in Riyadh on Oct. 25. The theme of the conference is “Investing in Humanity: Enabling a New World Order”.
The Biden administration had already downgraded U.S. participation in the conference from the Trump administration’s level of engagement. The Trump administration sent the Treasury Secretary to the meeting, but last year the Biden administration sent Under Secretary of Commerce Don Graves. The Department of Commerce has confirmed that he will not attend this year.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrian Watson said the administration is not reaching out to American companies to dissuade them from doing business in Saudi Arabia.
“We are not reaching out to companies to make such demands,” Watson said in a statement. It will make its own decisions about its existence and where to invest, taking into account a variety of factors, including the environment, reputational concerns that may arise from public policy, and the choice made by the host country.”
In addition to considering squeezing Saudi Arabia in the business world, senior government officials said the Biden administration plans to immediately scale back diplomatic and military engagement with Riyadh, while OPEC+ leaders said it was likely to continue until the next official took over. 34th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on 4 December.
The outcome of the December meeting will be crucial to the future of US-Saudi relations, officials said. The meeting will be convened the day before the European Union’s package of sanctions against Russia enters into force. The package includes a partial embargo on Russian oil and a ban on Russian oil imports from the sea. This sanction restricts the resale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products by EU countries.
“It will be an important test, that OPEC meeting,” the official said. “EU sanctions come into force and millions of barrels [of Russian oil] It will disappear. Is OPEC doing nothing? ”
“under pressure”
Biden has come under pressure from Congress to take drastic steps, such as halting arms sales to the kingdom, and White House officials have warned OPEC+ that OPEC+ is expected to continue after urging the US not to cut oil production. It is furious that it has made even more drastic cuts than before. US officials say the decision will push up gas prices and provide an economic lifeline for Russia, a major oil exporter, which continues its brutal war in Ukraine. Officials also accused the crown prince of coercing other members of his OPEC+ alliance into the decision.
Saudi Arabia said the decision falls under none of those, emphasizing that it was made collectively by a group of countries.
U.S. officials, including the president, have promised a response to Riyadh, but nothing has been implemented so far, and officials said a decision would be made in consultation with Congress. will not return to Washington until the midterm elections are over.
“The Biden administration appears to be in a bit of a rush to find practical measures that can support President Biden’s rhetoric that there will be results,” said Brian Katuris, vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute. Stated.
“One area where Saudi Arabia’s leaders are very interested in building a stronger relationship with the United States is in the economic sector, especially private sector engagement,” said Katuris. “Saudi Arabia’s leaders are keen for American businesses and investors to come to their country and make significant investments to advance their goals of diversifying their economy.”
Foreign investment in Saudi Arabia is a core part of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy.
Earlier last year, Riyadh announced that from 2024 onwards, only international companies with regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia will be able to do business with the Saudi government.
After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, the crown prince’s efforts were set back. Under bipartisan pressure, Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin canceled plans to attend the Future Investments Initiative conference later that month. US intelligence finally concluded that MBS authorized his Khashoggi murder. The Saudi government denies that the crown prince was involved in the murder.
Engagement with Saudi Arabia has been restored, culminating in Biden’s visit to the kingdom, where he was pictured fist-bumping with MBS in July.
Prior to this month’s OPEC+ decision, U.S. and Saudi officials had spent hours discussing the future of oil prices, according to administration officials.
Saudi officials have told Americans they are ready to sustain production increases until the end of the year, an expectation for both the US and other OPEC countries for months.
But recently, Saudi Arabia presented the US with an analysis that oil prices were likely to fall, arguing that production would need to be cut to avoid a price crater, US officials said. rice field. The U.S. disagreed, saying that prices were likely to remain stable for another 30 days, and that the cut would provide evidence that he could wait until the next OPEC meeting, and if prices started to fall, OPEC could even claimed that they could change production at any time. He said. But the Saudis will not budge from their analysis and charts, claiming a price collapse is imminent, they said.
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