Trump designates Saudi Arabia as main, non-NATO ally

U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Tuesday (November 19, 2025) he was designating Saudi Arabia as a serious non-NATO ally, as he hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a gala dinner on the White House.

“Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Mr. Trump mentioned.

“And I’m just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” Mr. Trump mentioned of the designation, which solely 19 different nations have beforehand acquired.

The inheritor to the throne, earlier, delighted Mr. Trump by asserting that he was growing the $600 billion Saudi funding he promised Mr. Trump when the U.S. president visited the nation in May.

“We can announce that we’re going to enhance that $600 billion to nearly $1 trillion for funding,” Prince Mohammed mentioned within the Oval Office.

A grinning Mr. Trump requested him to verify the determine, to which the Saudi royal replied: “Definitely.”

The grand welcome

Mr. Trump pulled out all of the stops for the Saudi Prince, giving him therapy usually reserved for a state go to to the White House, even if he’s not a head of state.

He welcomed the Prince — who’s broadly often called MBS — on the South Lawn of the White House as cannon hearth boomed out, earlier than they watched the noisy flypast by U.S. army jets.

The 79-year-old Republican then confirmed the prince a brand new gallery of presidential portraits by the Rose Garden — together with one portraying his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as an autopen.