<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655153254239,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655153254239,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54618782", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1027697"} }); ","_id":"00000181-5ed2-d702-a3cf-5fd355e70000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedAs President Joe Biden prepares for a visit to Saudi Arabia, the White House is downplaying possible energy commitments and pointing to regional cooperation as the ultimate goal.
Biden’s engagement with Saudi Arabia won’t hinge on discussions over energy supply, the president’s press secretary told reporters on Monday.
“To view engagement with Saudi Arabia and energy security as asking for oil is simply wrong,” Karine Jean-Pierre said, calling it “a misunderstanding” of the issue and the administration’s “multifaceted” discussions with the energy-rich country’s leaders.
“We talk to them like we do any other oil producers,” she said of Saudi Arabia, which chairs the OPEC+ oil cartel.
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Jean-Pierre declined to confirm a visit but said administration officials “continue to plan” for travel to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“When the president’s ready to make that announcement, that’s when we will,” Jean-Pierre added.
Over the weekend, Biden said he had not made a final decision on whether to visit the kingdom and pushed back on suggestions that he was seeking help with high gasoline prices.
“The commitments from the Saudis don’t relate to anything having to do with energy,” Biden told reporters. “It has to do with national security for them — for Israelis. It has to do with much larger issues than having to do with the energy piece.”
Biden said, “It happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia. That’s the reason I’m going.”
After a two-month truce in the Yemen war was announced this month, Biden praised Saudi leaders for their role.
Still, Biden has faced questions over the prospect of a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader.
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On the campaign trail, Biden promised to make the “pariah” kingdom “pay the price” for the 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A U.S. intelligence report released after Biden took office determined that the crown prince was responsible for the journalist’s murder.
