Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States
in January 2021. During his campaign, President Biden
emphasized his disapproval of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), calling
him a "pariah" and vowing to turn Saudi Arabia into a "pariah”
(Wood, 2022). Joe Biden
purposefully refrained from contacting the MBS after assuming office and
insisted on communicating with King Salman with the understanding that his son
would not participate in the conversation (Middle East
Monitor, 2022).
The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has
been complex, with both cooperation and tension over the years. Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has been a key figure in this relationship, and his
actions have had a significant impact on the dynamics between the two
countries. Under President Biden, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has been
characterized by cooperation and tension. Biden has been critical of Saudi
Arabia's human rights record and has sought to rebalance the relationship, particularly
after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018(Ottaway,2021).
The Biden administration has, however, also recognized Saudi
efforts to reduce regional tensions, such as the conclusion of the Yemeni
conflict and the start of talks with Iran. The United States has also expressed
disapproval of Saudi Arabia's backing of Russia amid the crisis in Ukraine (Al-Jabri
& Sheline, 2022).
Saudi Arabia has made an effort to broaden its ties with both China
and Russia. The monarchy has bolstered ties with Russia and joined the BRICS
group of developing nations. During the conflict in Ukraine, it also reduced
its oil output in agreement with Russia. Additionally, Saudi Arabia rebuffed US
requests to boost oil production to lower soaring gas costs (Staff,2022).
Biden’s Approach towards Saudi
Arabia
U.S.-Saudi ties have been complicatedly affected by President
Biden's attitude toward Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Saudi
Arabia, resulting in both tensions and attempts at reconciliation. At first,
Biden signaled a reassessment of the relationship with Saudi Arabia and voiced
worries about human rights issues, especially in the wake of the murder of
journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden’s statements were taken as offensive and according to a
report by Smith & De Luce (2020) Notably, Saudi Arabia took a while to
formally congratulate Biden on his anticipated presidential win. More than
twenty-four hours after American media declared Biden's victory, a cable was
issued from King Salman.
In February 2021, white house
press Secretary, Jen Psaki told reporters that the
White House is downgrading relations with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
She said, in response to the query about whether Biden will speak
with the crown prince, "going back to engagement
counterpart-to-counterpart is part of that." King Salman is the
president's counterpart, and I anticipate that he will speak with him when it
is suitable. I don't know when it will happen (Turak,2021).
Biden criticized Saudi Arabia on the Yemen war and removed Houthis
from its foreign terrorist list in 2021. It was yet another snub to the Saudis
especially to the crown prince policy. Statements coming from the Biden
administration antagonized the Saudi Crown Prince, the De Fecto ruler of the
kingdom. The Crown Prince in an interview with US magazine Atlantic in March
2022 said that he "does not care" what US President Joe Biden thinks
of him, but he also emphasized that Riyadh's goal was to keep close relations
with Washington (Chmaytelli, 2022).
In September 2021, Biden’s National Security adviser, Jack Sullivan
went to visit Saudi Arabia, according to a report by Kalin, Said & Cloud (2022)
on the mention of Jamal Khashoggi murder prince shouted at US NSA Jack Sullivan
and said he didn’t want to mention his name and also told him that the US
should forget that Saudi Arabia will boost oil production.
According to Wood (2022), President Biden attempted to shake hands
with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) during the G20 meeting in October
2021, but MBS did not appear, sparking rumors and potentially negative
diplomatic ramifications. MBS's absence from the meeting brought to light the
difficulties in handling diplomatic engagements and the complexity of the
relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
In 2022, The Biden White House was influenced by two new factors
that proved decisive: first, the war in Ukraine and Biden's need for Saudi
assistance to stabilize the oil market; second, Israel's strong desire for
Biden to normalize relations with MBS and the kingdom as part of a wider
realignment known as the Abraham Accords (Ignatius, 2022).
In March 2022, according to
the Wall Street Journal, the White House's attempt to set up phone calls
between US President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as
well as Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan failed.
The Prince of both Gulf countries turned down US invitations to
talk with the president, despite the conversations' intended focus being on
increasing international support for Ukraine and maintaining control over
rising oil prices (Middle East Eye, 2022).
However, The
MBS position pushed Biden to visit the region, and led him to back down from
his position towards MBS and his vow to make the KSA a "pariah"
state.
Biden's July 2022 visit to KSA was a failure. MBS was seemingly
cold during Biden's visit, leaving the US president disappointed. He was
surprised by Saudi Arabia agreeing with Russia within OPEC+ on a significant
reduction in oil production quotas rather than an increase to control prices.
It was clear that the Saudi decision was timed to coincide with the US midterm
Congressional elections. It was a personal blow directed at Biden by the MBS (Alghannam
& Yaghi, 2022).
Crown Prince MBS Policy in the Era of Multipolarity
As part of Saudi Arabia's aim to diversify its foreign policy and
manage to alter global dynamics, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has
followed a policy of balancing relations between China, Russia, and the U.S.
Saudi Arabia pursued deeper connections with China and Russia in 2022 while
encountering discontent with the United States, its longtime ally (Porter, 2023).
MBS's strategy is part of a larger attempt to forge a different
course in light of shifting geopolitical environments and the United States'
diminishing influence. Saudi Arabia wants to ensure economic opportunities,
emphasize its global importance, and protect itself from uncertainty in U.S.
foreign policy by strengthening its links with China and Russia. Important
energy and trade agreements, as well as collaboration on a range of problems
including the Yemeni conflict, digital infrastructure, and space exploration,
have resulted from this strategic alignment with China and Russia (Ivanov, 2023).
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) attempts to resolve
disputes with Yemen and Iran, as well as to promote collaboration and involve
China in the reigon, have been greatly helped by diversifying relations. China
helped Saudi Arabia and Iran form a partnership to change the Middle East's
dynamics (Nereim, 2023).
This calculated action highlights China's increasing power in
managing regional conflicts and reflects Riyadh's changing foreign strategy. The
complicated reasons for this transaction indicate Saudi Arabia's desire to play
a larger role in the world economy, led by the aspirational crown prince.
Experts point out that
despite these changes, the United States and Saudi Arabia still have shared
interests, which will probably keep their relationship strong in the
foreseeable future. The balancing of relations between these major powers, as
part of MBS's policy, highlights Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect its economic
stability and adapt to changing international dynamics.
The United
States and Saudi Arabia's relationship had a major reevaluation and possible
adjustments during the Biden administration, from 2021 to 2023. After Saudi
Arabia decided to cut back on oil production, President Biden started a process
to review the U.S.-Saudi alliance, which prompted demands in Congress to
reconsider supporting Saudi Arabia (Wagner,
Abutaleb, & DeYoung, 2022).
Tensions arose as Saudi Arabia bolstered its contacts with Russia
and curtailed its oil output in tandem with Moscow, as a result of the Biden
administration's emphasis on human rights as a crucial component of its
relationship with the kingdom.
Though Washington and Riyadh have historical relations that date
back to 1932, Biden was supposed to bring about a shift in relations between
the two countries to a more institutional state-to-state relationship but he
failed. He underestimated MBS and the Saudi Strategic culture.
Crown Prince policy during Biden's rule between 2021 to 2023 was marked with
reforms and diversification of foreign policy for the single aim of preserving
the independence of the Saudi State.
Conclusion
Saudi relations with the United States have significantly evolved
during the period between 2015 to 2023. MBS rose to power when his father, King
Salman bin Abdul Aziz became king of Saudi Arabia. It was the era of President
Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia had reservations over Obama’s policy on the Arab
Spring, the Iranian Nuclear deal, and pressure on Saudi Arabia about human
rights.
Trump came into power in 2017, and Crown Prince MBS's friendship
with the president son in law, Jared Kushner played an important role in
bringing back the relationship in the right direction. Trump was business
minded and Saudis had enough Oil money to win his friendship. There were
multibillion-dollar deals between the US and Saudi Arabia which benefitted both
states.
After Trump, Joe Biden became American President. He had a
personality clash with Crown Prince MBS. His policies antagonized the Crown
prince and a mutual distrust and contempt for each other was seen in their
relations. Biden’s statements and policies towards the Kingdom resulted in a
prisoner dilemma-type situation in which MBS diversified its relations and
improved relations with China and Russia to balance relations and dependency on
the United States.
Crown
Prince MBS has impacted both Saudi Strategic culture and Saudi Policy toward
the US. However, it is yet to be seen whether this change in approach is due to
a reaction to Biden's policies or whether there is a permanent change in
Saudi-US relations.