- President-elect Joe Biden has long been skeptical of the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia, despite how previous governments approached Riyadh.
- As president, Biden must trust his instincts and remember that Saudi Arabia needs the United States more than the United States needs Saudi Arabia, writes Daniel DePetris, a Defense Priorities researcher.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
As presidential candidates have been doing since the beginning of time, Joe Biden made his fair share of promises and commitments during the campaign.
The United States, he said, will again be respected on the world stage. Russia and its spy president, Vladimir Putin, would be held responsible. US foreign policy would be smarter, less volatile and more attentive to Washington’s allies.
Some promises, however, are more important than others. And if there is an idea that the president-elect must fulfill when preparing for the inauguration day on January 20, it is the absolute need to reform Washington’s strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Biden was a relative skeptic of the kingdom during his long career. When he was a senator and an influential member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he often pointed out in speeches and media interviews that Saudi Arabia was less an iron friend of the United States and more a partner of convenience.
During a 2004 interview with PBS, Biden questioned whether the United States was profiting from its bilateral relationship with Riyadh, a statement considered heresy at the time. But as unpopular as those words may have been, it was an astute observation: What, exactly, does Washington gain by granting special favors to the Saudi monarchy?
Getty Images
Biden’s reticence towards the kingdom has not lessened with age – in fact, his feelings have hardened. At one point during the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden openly called Saudi Arabia an “outcast”, a term normally reserved for people like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un or Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
Biden’s assessment is undoubtedly driven by the direction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman took in the monarchy, a path that includes state-sanctioned journalist murders, aggressive and disastrous misadventures abroad and the creation of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. today.
Releasing harsh statements, of course, is one thing. Following these statements with concrete actions is something else entirely. The Biden government must approach its policy for Saudi Arabia with three main elements in mind.
First, the Biden White House will not be able to reevaluate US-Saudi Arabia relations if it does not start with an accurate baseline. Ultimately, Saudi Arabia needs the United States much more than the United States needs Saudi Arabia. This is often overlooked in Washington, which tends to view the kingdom as if the world were still in the 20th century. Yes, Saudi Arabia is the world’s second largest producer of crude oil, but U.S. oil imports from the Persian Gulf have decreased by almost 70% in the past decade as the United States has become more energy independent.
Unlike the Cold War, when Soviet dominance of Middle Eastern oil supplies was very much in the minds of US policymakers, there is no power today – regionally or otherwise – not even remotely close to achieving hegemon status for oil market maker. This includes a more assertive China, which despite relying on the Persian Gulf for 47% of its oil supply, watched with joy as Washington mired in the Middle East. Beijing Conclusion: A permanent military presence in the region is an expensive undertaking.
Bandar Algaloud / Courtesy of the Royal Saudi Court / Handout
Second, the Biden government must see the United States-Saudi Arabia relationship as it really is: a pragmatic arrangement whose genesis took place at a very different time, in a very different world with very different circumstances.
Although Washington and Riyadh have had relatively decent relations since President Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdulaziz al-Saud met at the USS Quincy in the last days of World War II, it is important to remember that there is no formal alliance between the two nations. The United States is not required to defend the kingdom in the event of an attack, nor do the Saudis enjoy the privilege of unconditional US diplomatic or military support. To believe otherwise is to give the monarchy veto power over US foreign policy. Any problem in the Middle East, no matter how far away from US security interests, would automatically turn into a problem for the United States.
Thirdly and lastly, it is crucial that Biden and his foreign policy team recognize how divergent the interests of the United States and Saudi Arabia are. For the kingdom, Iran is a regional enemy that seeks to undermine Saudi influence. However, for Washington, Iran is a third-rate nuisance whose economic, military and diplomatic influence is manageable.
Saudi Arabia hopes to increase its influence to the point of becoming the perennial power in the Middle East. The United States, by contrast, has no interest in putting its finger on the scale or choosing winners and losers, which would alter the balance of power and drag the American military even further into internal disputes in the region.
Keeping these three principles in mind will help Biden navigate the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which is in dire need of a reassessment. Washington owes nothing to Saudi Arabia – certainly not hundreds of millions in sales of smart bombs, tens of billions of dollars in offensive military equipment or the United States’ involvement in a calamity created by Riyadh.
Daniel R. DePetris is a Defense Priorities colleague and Newsweek columnist.