United States President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will remove all sanctions on Syria, following appeals from Saudi Arabia and Syria’s new government.
The U.S. had first sanctioned Syria in 2004, and added further sanctions once the Syrian Civil War began in 2011. Trump made the announcement during a visit to Riyadh, where the U.S. also agreed to a new partnership with Saudi Arabia.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. It’s their time to shine,” Trump said. “We’re taking them all off. Good luck Syria, show us something very special.”
According to Trump, the move was largely due to a request from Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” he said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said lifting these sanctions represented a “new start” in the country’s reconstruction, and thanked Saudi Arabia’s government. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also meet with al-Shaibani in Turkey on Thursday.
Syria’s new government, which deposed Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year, has repeatedly called for the U.S.’ sanctions to be lifted in recent months. These measures have obstructed its financial recovery, according to al-Shaibani.
With Trump in Riyadh, the U.S. also agreed to sell Saudi Arabia a US$142 billion arms package.
Saudi Arabia will invest US$600 billion in the U.S., which will include NVIDIA selling hundreds of thousands of artificial intelligence chips in Saudi Arabia. U.S. companies like Google, Oracle, and Salesforce will invest $80 billion in both countries, according to the White House.
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