Maybe the United States needs Saudi Arabia’s influence in the region for the sake of stability? That appears to be why Biden’s team was engaged with the Saudis. Then Israel was attacked.
The merits or risks re extended nuclear energy to Saudi Arabia is hard to judge when it comes to Trump as we never know whose interests he is serving. From a recent New York Times article:
The decision by President Trump to grant Saudi Arabia access to American nuclear technology aligns with his administration’s push to accelerate domestically backed nuclear power projects around the world.
But it may also contribute to a major trend in Mr. Trump’s second term: allowing the government to help enrich the president, his family, advisers and others in his orbit.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the money-losing company that hosts Truth Social, the platform where Mr. Trump first posts most of his White House announcements, has moved recently to add — incongruously — nuclear energy to its portfolio.
The company announced in December that it intends to merge as part of a $6 billion deal with a nuclear fusion start-up called TAE Technologies. During Mr. Trump’s first term, and again last year, TAE won financial support from the Energy Department’s Office of Fusion Energy Science.
The president’s shares in the publicly traded Trump Media are worth about $875 million as of earlier this month, according to other public filings. The value of those shares could grow if the TAE merger proves a success.
Separately, two of the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., in November became part ownersthrough an investment partnership in a company called Quantum Leap Energy, which is working to develop certain isotopes that can be used as nuclear fuel.
Quantum Leap reached a deal last year with a Texas-based company co-founded by Rick Perry, who was energy secretary during Mr. Trump’s first term and is now seeking federal assistance to build nuclear power plants in Texas. Mr. Perry did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has a complicated relationship with those involved in the recent nuclear agreement.
He participated in discussions related to Saudi Arabia’s push for access to U.S. nuclear technology when he worked at the White House during Mr. Trump’s first term. He also helped establish agreements between Israel and multiple Arab countries to normalize their relationship, called the Abraham Accords.
Now, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is one of Mr. Kushner’s biggest backers. The fund committed $2 billion to Mr. Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, shortly after he left the White House in 2021. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an ally during Mr. Kushner’s government tenure, helped convince the sovereign wealth fund to provide the money.
The Commerce and Energy Departments have been at the forefront of pushing Mr. Trump’s nuclear agenda. Both are led by secretaries who have either direct ties to the industry or family ones.
Mr. Lutnick has been leading an effort to invest U.S. tax dollars into companies in the nuclear sector, including Westinghouse. Companies his family members help run could profit.
Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment bank that Mr. Lutnick led until he was hired by Mr. Trump, is at the center. Cantor has over the last year helped several companies in the nuclear sector raise money, which generates millions of dollars in fees for the firm.
Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and entrepreneur, was an early political backer of Mr. Trump and helped Vice President JD Vance begin his political career, serving as one of the largest donors to Mr. Vance’s Senate race in 2022.
Mr. Thiel is a major investor in General Matter, a U.S. nuclear fuel company focused on producing what is known as high-assay low-enriched uranium. A giant load of new nuclear fuel will be needed if all these new nuclear power plants are built, and General Matter is positioned to benefit.