No Cheap Oil For You – Biden’s Much Touted Begging-For-Oil Trip To Saudi Arabia Cancelled

US President Joe Biden has postponed a planned hat in hand visit to Saudi Arabia, US media reported on 4 June. The trip was meant to take place in June, but according to a senior official the White House it is now canceled.

“I’m not sure when I’m going… There is a possibility that I would be going to meet with both the Israelis and some Arab countries,” Biden said when asked by reporters about the visit.

During his visit to Israel, Biden was set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, and the trip would have taken place after a G7 summit in Germany and a NATO meeting in Spain, scheduled for later this month.

However, after being asked about the possibility of Biden visiting Saudi Arabia, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on 1 June that Biden stands by his pledge to make the kingdom a “pariah” and to have Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) “pay the price” for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Relations between the US and Gulf states took a turn for the worse following the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, as both Saudi Arabia and the UAE refused US diktats to increase oil production levels.

The US continues to suffer from rising gas prices. To make matters worse, Saudi Arabia has upheld its refusal to increase oil production, with prices increasing as a result of sanctions placed on Russia.

Last month, the US president deployed a top-level delegation to Abu Dhabi, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, in hopes that the rift with the gulf nations could begin to heal, The Cradle reports

The visit was branded Hat in Hand by Trita Parsi writing for the Responsible Statecraft, announced just a couple of days ago, when the New York Times broke the news that President Biden plans to travel this Summer to Saudi Arabia, effectively signaling the administration’s intent to end its paltry efforts to correct the Kingdom’s destabilizing behavior in return for limited promises on oil production. 

Leave a Reply