Biden will begin his Middle East trip this week in his first trip to the region since taking office, starting with Israel and the occupied West Bank. He will finish his trip in Saudi Arabia. Biden said the trip would advance American interests by focusing on global trade and supply chains on which the US relies. Many countries in the West, including the US, want Saudi Arabia to produce more oil to ease the growing global energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine. More production will also punish Russia, a major oil exporter, by lowering global prices. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday, US officials said Biden will discuss Saudi Arabia’s human rights record during the trip. The paper said Saudi officials are unlikely to make concessions on human rights nor will they be willing to abandon an oil production partnership with Russia. Saudi Arabia has been seeking to secure an oil alliance with Russia for decades, but must walk a tightrope to do so while improving strained relations with the US over its human rights record. Washington and Riyadh have expressed different ideas about what the priorities will be during Biden’s visit. The Biden administration said the summit of Arab nations will be a focus, as the president will meet with many heads of state from the region during the summit. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi officials said the meeting between Biden and Saudi King Salman and his leadership team, which includes his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will include “substantial exchanges between of Prince Mohammed and the president on a range of issues and [Saudi officials] have described the summit as regional’. The crown prince is considered an outcast by many in Washington after US intelligence agencies concluded in February 2021 that the 36-year-old future king approved the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden and bin Salman have had a frosty relationship, with Biden refusing to speak to the crown prince last year and bin Salman also refusing to speak to the president in a call ahead of the war in Ukraine in February. Biden’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia has sparked controversy, as some believe the president is abandoning his policy of making Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for Khashoggi’s murder. On June 30, Biden said he would not immediately pressure Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to curb rising crude prices. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been stepping up economic pressure on the West in recent weeks, particularly in Europe, where the energy crisis is particularly acute due to over-reliance on Russian energy. Last week, a Russian court ordered the suspension of a key Kazakh oil pipeline carrying crude to Europe through a Black Sea port. President Joe Biden’s oil bet with Saudi Arabia looks set to fail as the Gulf state is reportedly unwilling to give up its oil-producing alliance with Russia, which Washington has claimed is the reason for excessively high oil prices. oil prices. Nicholas Datiche/Getty
