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Donald Trump Signs Executive Order On Prescription Drug Prices; CNN Live In Riyadh, First Stop On Trump's Middle East Tour; Officials: Economic Deals A Top Priority On Trump's Gulf Tour. Aired 10-10:45a ET
Aired May 12, 2025 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But he learned it in about two hours. And he's been fantastic, so I want to just thanks Steve.
[10:00:06]
But they're going to be releasing Edan in about two hours from now, or sometime today, let's say. And again, they thought he was dead just a short
while ago. His parents are so happy. They're so happy.
So, it's as you know, Edan's the only American citizen who was captured and held hostage by Hamas since October 7th, 2023, and he's coming home to his
parents, which is really great news. To me, it's big news. They thought he was dead, so that's that. So we'll be heading there, and we'll be seeing
three primary countries. You know all about that, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar.
On Thursday's meeting with Russia and Ukraine is very important. I was very insistent that that meeting take place. I think good things can come out of
that meeting. Stop the bloodshed of the horrible. It's a bloodbath, but the 5,000 more. It's really much more. I'm trying to be conservative, more than
5,000 soldiers, Russian. They're not American soldiers. They're from Russia. They're from Ukraine, but they're people. They're human souls, and
they're being killed at levels that we haven't seen since the Second World War, and it's every week. A lot of drone fighting, it's a whole new form of
warfare, and it's violent and vicious, and so that's it.
I'd like to go back to China just for a second. They're very heavy on the fentanyl. We're charging them, as you know, 20 percent for the fact that
they send Fentanyl into our country, and they've agreed that they're going to stop that. And they'll be rewarded by not having to pay hundreds of
billions of dollars in tariffs. So, the fentanyl should stop. It comes from China. It's amazing and comes through our Southern border. It comes through
our Northern border too. It comes through Canada and comes through our Southern border, much more through the Southern border.
But so, that's a very important subject to me because everybody in this room has lost friends or people that have family members that have died of
fentanyl. So, there's a big incentive for China to stop, and I take them at their word. They're going to work on that I think very hard. And one thing,
when they work on something, they get it done.
So, now I'm about to depart on a historic visit, some of you're going with us, to, as I said, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. Before I
do, I'll sign one of the most consequential executive orders in our country's history. I don't think there's ever been anything signed like
this, certainly not with respect to healthcare. Nothing even close.
I'm delighted to be joined on this occasion by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is doing a really good job, I
have to tell you that. CMS Administrator and friend of mine, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is an amazing guy. I was telling Bobby before, Oz had a very successful
show, but it hurt his reputation because when you're in show business, it hurts your reputation a little bit. It's good for you -- it's good for you,
but in terms of professionalism and being a doctor, it hurts your reputation. This guy went to the best schools, was the best -- I mean top,
top, top of the line. Then he did a television show, became a success, made a lot of money, all that stuff, but it sort of hurt him.
And you know who I compare that to, I hate to say this, but a special woman, Jeanine Pirro. She was the toughest, smartest D.A. maybe in our
country's -- in our -- in our city's and state's history, New York. She was really tough, really sharp. Then she did a show, and people didn't think of
her quite the same way. She became more of an entertainment person, like Oz. Oz is not in entertainment. He's not really an entertainer. You know
the real story. And she isn't either. She is unbelievable. She was one of the strongest district attorneys in the history of New York. Highly
respected, very tough, went after the drug dealers at a level that you don't see today anymore.
And hopefully she's going to be -- she's giving up a tremendous -- she's leaving the number one show on cable television, one of the number one
shows on television, period, "The Five." But they've got great people left behind, but she was a big part of it, and so I equate it to that. Janine
Pirro is unbelievable.
FDA Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, with a reputation that's second to none, and the job he's doing already has been fantastic. Thank you, Marty.
[10:05:07]
And Director of National Institute of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, who has been, as you know from Stanford. So highly regarded, and they've all been
working with us very hard on this. And the question they would ask, being a little bit new to the government aspect of it, is why hasn't -- why doesn't
somebody fight the drug price situation, meaning equalization? There's a term. It's called equalization. Nobody wants to mention that term.
And I am not knocking the drug companies. I'm really more knocking the countries than the drug companies because they're forced to do things. But
the drug lobby is the strongest lobby in this country, they say, the drug lobby. It's between that and lawyers, and they have a lot of power.
But starting today the United States will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries, which is what we were doing. We're
subsidizing others healthcare. Countries where they paid a small fraction for the same drug that what we pay many, many times more for and will no
longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from big pharma.
But again, it was really the countries that forced big pharma to do things that, frankly, I'm not sure they really felt comfortable doing. But they've
gotten away with it, these countries.
European Union has been brutal, brutal. And the drug companies actually told me stories it was just brutal how they forced them. And European Union
is suing all our companies, Apple and Google, Meta. They're suing all our companies. They end up -- they have judges that are European Union-centric,
and they get rewarded 15 billion, 17 billion, 20 billion, and they use that to run their operation. It's not going to happen any longer. That I can
tell you.
So, what's been happening is we've been subsidizing other countries throughout the world. Not just in Europe, throughout the world. European
Union was the most difficult, from what I understand.
I mean, I'll tell you a story. A friend of mine who's a businessman, very, very, very top guy. Most of you would've heard of him. A highly neurotic,
brilliant businessman. Seriously overweight, and he takes the fat -- the fat shot drug. And he called me up and he said, president, he calls me. He
used to call me Donald. Now he calls me president, so that's nice respect. But he's a rough guy, smart guy, very successful, very rich. I wouldn't
even know how we would know this.
But because he's got comments, president, could I ask you a question. What? I'm in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take. I said, i's
not working. He said, I just paid $88.00, and in New York I paid $1,300. What the hell is going on? He said.
So, I checked, and it's the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It's the identical pill that I buy in New York, and here I'm
paying $88.00 in London. In New York, I'm paying $1,300." Now, this is a great businessman, so, but he's not familiar with this crazy situation that
we have. But he was stunned, but it was just one of those stories.
And I brought it up with the drug companies represented by somebody who's very, very smart, a good person too. And we argued about it for about half
hour, and then finally he just said, because they can't justify it, he just said, look, you got me. You got me. I can no longer justify.
They've been -- you know, they've been justifying this crap for years. They said, it's research and development. Well, I said, well, research and
development, other countries should pay research and development too. It's for their benefit.
It was just one of those things. And the other countries would set a price and they'd meet the price and they'd say, If you don't meet the price, you
can't sell it in our country. I said, well, then you walk away, and they'll call you back and they'll sell it in the country, but now they'll have do
that.
So, for the first time in many years, we'll slash the cost of prescription drugs, and we will bring fairness to America. Drug prices will come down by
much more, really, if you think, 59. If you think of a drug that is sometimes 10 times more expensive, it's much more than the 59 percent. You
know, it depends on the way you want to analyze it, but in one way you could analyze it that way. But between 59 and 80, and I guess even 90
percent.
So, when I worked so hard in the first term, and if I got prices down, remember, I was the only one to ever get prices down for a full year, but
I'd get them down like two percent, and I thought it was like a big deal. Well, we're getting them down 60, 70, 80, 90 percent.
[10:10:16]
But actually more than that, if you think about it in the way mathematically. And pharma has to say, we're sorry, but we'll not be able
to do this any longer to these com -- to these countries that have been so tough. They've been very tough, nasty. It's trade. It's trade, and pharma
is also very powerful. And the Democrats have protected pharma. The Democrats, this is the Democrats have protected pharma. These are the
Democrats.
And by the way, I just called the Speaker of the House, and I just called the leader, our leader in the Senate, John Thune and Mike Johnson, spoke to
both of them. I said, when you score, you're going to have to score two things. You're going to have the number one score that hundreds of billions
of dollars of tariff money is coming in. But even bigger than that, you're going to have to score that your cost for Medicaid and Medicare and just
basically pharmaceuticals and drugs is going down at a level that nobody has ever seen before.
It'll pay for the Golden Dome. I see the Golden Dome is there, see. It'll easily pay for the Golden Dome, and we'll have a lot of money left over. We
need the Golden Dome, by the way, in this world. Although this world's a lot safer today than it was a week ago and a lot safer than it was six
months ago. We had people that had no clue what they were doing.
So, today, Americans spend 70 percent more for prescription drugs than we spent in the year 2000. Think of that. Our country has the highest drug
prices anywhere in the world by sometimes a factor of five, six, seven, eight times. It's not like they're slightly higher. They're six, seven,
eight times. There are even cases of 10 times higher, so that you go 10 times more expensive for the same drug. That's big numbers.
Even though the United States is home to only four percent of the world's population, pharmaceutical companies make more than two-thirds of their
profits in America. So, think of that. With four percent of the population, the pharmaceutical companies make most of their money, most of their
profits from America. That's not a good thing.
Now, I think, by the way, pharmaceutical, I have great respect for these companies and for the people that run them. I really do. And I think they
did one of the greatest jobs in history for their company convincing people for many years that this was a fair system. Nobody really understood why,
but I figured it out.
For years, pharmaceutical and drug companies have said that research and development costs were what they are and for no reason whatsoever, they had
to be borne by America alone. Not any more they don't.
This means American patients were effectively subsidizing socialist healthcare systems in Germany, in all parts of the European Union. They
were the toughest of all. They were nasty. And I see that. I see that with trade too. European Union is in many ways nastier than China, OK?
And we've just started with them. They'll come down a lot. You watch. We have all the cards. They treated us very unfairly. They sell us 13 million
cars. We sell them none. They sell us their agricultural products. We sell them virtually none. They don't take our products. That gives us all the
cards, and very unfair. So, they're going to have to pay more for healthcare, and we're going to have to pay less. That's all it is.
And believe it or not, because it's really the world we're talking about, not just the European Union, but because it's the world, the numbers are --
the numbers are for the healthcare company, not as bad as you would think. They'll make the same. I think the healthcare companies should make pretty
much the same money. I really don't believe they should be affected very much because it's just a redistribution of wealth.
It's a redistribution where it could be the same top line, but it's going to be distributed differently. Europe's going to have to pay a little bit
more. The rest of the world's going to have to pay a little bit more, and America's going to pay a lot less. Again, because it's a much smaller
population than when you think of the whole world.
So, basically what we're doing is equalizing. There's a new word that I came up with, which I think is probably the best word. We're going to
equalize where we're all going to pay the same. We're going to pay what Europe's going to pay. We're going to all pay.
Now, there may be some countries in dire need, and I would be willing to sacrifice that and help them, but it's called most favored nation. We are
going to pay the lowest price there is in the world. We will get whoever is paying the lowest price, that's the price that we're going to get.
[10:15:19]
So, remember that. So, we're no longer paying 10 times more than another country. Whoever is paying the lowest price, we will look at that price and
we will say, that's the price we're going to pay. Most favored nations, that's what it is.
One breast cancer drug costs Americans over $16,000 per bottle, but the same drug from the same factory manufactured by the same company is one-
sixth that price in Australia and one-tenth that price in Sweden, one-tenth for the identical product.
A common asthma drug costs almost $500 here in America, but costs less than $40.00 in the United Kingdom. So $40.00 in the United Kingdom, which is
where this gentleman told me he paid a small amount for his shot. But think of that. So, $40 .00 versus $500 here.
That's not even better. There are much worse examples. And the weight loss drug Ozempic cost 10 times more in the United States than in the rest of
the developed world. 10 times more, why? Why? What did we do? Suckers.
But we never had a president that had the courage to do this, and nobody knew the system like I do. I mean, I've gotten to know this system so well.
And I don't think it's fair that it benefits Obamacare. Obamacare is a failure. It's not a good -- it's not a good healthcare. It works. I made it
work. I had an obligation to make it work or an obligation to let it die. I chose that we had to make it work. I had to make it as good as possible,
and I had a choice. I could have let it fail or make it as good as possible. As good as possible means it was still not very good, but it was
-- it survived.
And we did the right thing, but this makes it -- this makes everything work. And I don't want to have a bad form of healthcare work because of the
fact I was able to cut drug prices by 80 or 90 percent. So, we're going to maybe come up with something. I think this gives the Republicans a chance
to actually do a healthcare that's much better than Obamacare and for less money, which, if you guys would work on that along with Congress.
But I do want to say that Democrats could have done this a long time ago. They have fought like hell for the drug companies and they knew they were
doing the wrong thing. And it's going to be very hard.
I was just telling the leader and the speaker of that that it's going to be very hard for the Democrats to vote against the one big, beautiful deal,
the greatest tax cuts in history, greatest everything. But now you have the big drug prices because that's going to be included. It makes that whole
situation different from a scoring standpoint.
I just told him, I called him up about this. I said, I'm going to do something that's going to be very monumental and you're going to be
scoring. You better tell your people that this is going to score really well. And then add hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs to your list
also. But as big as the tariffs are, this is something that really hits quickly.
Five years ago, I signed an executive order to confront this disaster, but only confront it in a minor way. It was a -- it was a good confrontation,
but never to this extent. Took people a little while to understand a very complicated system.
But Joe Biden, without any knowledge of what he was doing, terminated the policy and then pretended to negotiate under a new system. And then you
take a look, five out of the 10 drugs that he negotiated are now over 200 percent more expensive in America than the rest of the world and far more
expensive than when he even got involved, much more expensive than when he got involved. Joe Biden's plan was, as you know, because you wrote about
it, you don't say it very loudly, but it was a very big failure, was his whole presidency.
First, I'm directing the U.S. trade representatives and Department of Commerce to begin investigations into foreign nations that extort drug
companies by blocking their products unless they accept bottom line and very low dollar amounts for their product, unfairly shifting the cost
burden onto American patients. And we'll be taking a look at that very strongly.
The biggest thing we're going to do is we're going to tell those countries, like those represented by the European Union that you know, that game is
up. Sorry. And if they want to get cute, then they don't have to sell cars into the United States anymore. It's a very big subject.
[10:20:11]
And they won't get cute because I'll defend the drug companies from that standpoint. They were given a price by the European unions and other
countries. This is what you do. This is what we're going to pay. We're not going to pay anymore. Let America pay the difference because it was a big
shortfall. Let America pay it. And that's what we did, but we're not doing it anymore.
Next, my administration will secure what we're calling most favorite nation's drug pricing. The principle is simple: Whatever the lowest price
paid for a drug in other developed countries, that is the price that Americans will pay. And we're using the term other developed countries,
because there are some countries that need some additional help, and that's fine. I think that's very good.
Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90 percent. Big Pharma will either abide by this
principle voluntarily or we'll use the power of the federal government to ensure that we are paying the same price as other countries.
To accelerate these price restrictions and reductions, my administration will also cut out the middlemen. We're going to totally cut out the famous
middlemen. Nobody knows who they are, middlemen. I've been hearing the term for 25 years, middlemen. I don't know who they are, but they're rich, that
I can tell you.
We're going to cut out the middlemen and facilitate the direct sale of drugs at the most favorite nation price directly to the American citizen.
So, we're cutting out probably the middlemen that's so important, right? They got to do that. They're worse than the drug companies. They don't even
make a product and they make a fortune. Got very smart business people, that I can tell you.
If companies make no significant progress toward most favorite nation pricing, which we will insist that they do, so I think I'm wasting time
talking about it, we're going to insist upon it. And we'll insist. And we're going to help the drug companies with the other nations because those
other nations do a lot of trading with us. They need our trade, just like China needed us very badly. They need us just as badly.
We will do whatever we have to with trade, just like we did some great things with trade with India and Pakistan, really helped the situation.
Very heated situation. Could have lost millions of people. More than millions, I mean, many millions of people. And they want to do business
with America, but we never used our powers that way. We never knew how. We never had people that knew how to do that.
We'll also open up America's market to safe and legal imports of affordable drugs from other countries, putting dramatic downward pressure on prices
and, if necessary, we'll investigate the drug companies and we'll, in particular, investigate the countries that are doing this and we will add
it onto the price that we charge them for doing business in America.
In other words, we'll add it on to tariffs if they don't do what is right, which is everybody should equalize, everybody should pay the same price.
And special interests may not like this very much, but the American people will.
I am doing this for the American people. I'm doing this against the most powerful lobby in the world, probably, the drug lobby, drug and
pharmaceutical lobby. But it's one of the most important orders, I think that's ever been signed, certainly with regard to healthcare or health in
the history of our country. And it's an honor to be a part of it.
And I'd like to ask Robert F. Kennedy to say a few words, please. Thank you.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Thank you, Mr. President. This is -- this is an extraordinary day. This is an
issue that, you know, I grew up in the Democratic Party and every major democratic leader for 20 years been making this promise to the American
people. This was the fulcrum of Bernie Sanders' runs for presidency, that he was going to eliminate this discrepancy between Europe and the United
States.
But as it turns out, none of them were doing it. It's one of these promises that politicians make to their constituents knowing that they'll never have
to do it.
And the reason they'll never have to do it is because they know that Congress is controlled in so many ways by the pharmaceutical industry.
There's at least one pharmaceutical lobbyist for every congressman, every senator in Capitol Hill and every member of the Supreme Court, some
estimates, three pharmaceutical companies, the industry itself spends three times what the next largest lobbyist spends on lobbying.
So, this was -- this was an issue that people talked about, but nobody wanted to do anything because it was radioactive. They knew you couldn't
get it by Congress.
[10:25:06]
But we now have a president who is a man of his word, who has the courage. President Trump was taking money from the pharmaceutical industry, too. I
think they gave you a hundred million dollars. But he can't be bought, unlike most of the politicians in this country.
And he is standing here for the American people. I don't know what -- you know, there's writers, like Elizabeth Warren or Robert Reich who are saying
that President Trump is on this side of the oligarchs. There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than President Donald
Trump.
And I'm very, very proud of you, Mr. President, for your courage, or I'll say, because I don't want to be crude, your intestinal fortitude, your
stiff spine and your willingness to stand up for the American people.
We have 4.2 percent of the world's population. We -- our country represents 75 percent of the revenues for pharmaceutical companies. We spend, in our
country, $1,126 per capita on drugs. In Britain, they spend about 240. They spend one-fifth of what we do.
And this is true across Europe. And the drug companies, Europeans, if you ask them, it made no sense what they're saying. America has to pay for this
innovation or it's not going to happen. President Trump is saying to our European partners is you've got to raise the amount that you're paying for
those drugs and pay for your share of the innovation, that the United States is no longer subsidizing that.
If the Europeans raise the price of their drugs by just 20 percent, that is $10 trillion. That can be spent on innovation and the health of all people
all across the globe is going to increase because we're going to have better products.
So, I am -- I'm just so grateful to be here today. I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. I have a couple of kids who are
Democrats, are big Bernie Sanders fans, and when I told them that this was going to happen, they had tears in their eyes because they thought this is
never going to happen in our lifetime. And we finally have a president who's willing to stand up for the American people.
Thank you. And Dr. Oz.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Well, you've been listening to the U.S. President Donald Trump, talking about the tariff roll back with China,
lowering U.S. drugs costs. He also announced what we've been reporting here on CONNECT THE WORLD, the last known, living American hostage in Gaza set
to be released by Hamas next hour.
Well, the head of Hamas's negotiating team says talks with the U.S. showed high positivity, and that Edan Alexander's release is part of steps towards
securing a ceasefire deal.
So far, though, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has not agreed to anything and is moving forward with plans to ramp up operations
in the Enclave.
CNN's Kylie Atwood is at the State Department. She joins us now live. What are we hearing from your American sources? What sort of pressure, if any,
will be put on Netanyahu at this point to progress a ceasefire and further hostage releases?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard from President Trump, who obviously heralded the fact that Alexander is expected
to be released later today. He said, within the coming hours here, he commended Steve Witkoff, who is his special envoy to the Middle East, for
brokering this deal, for securing the release of that single, lasting Israeli American who is being held by Hamas. Of course, we're watching to
see when that actually does come to fruition in the next few hours here.
But one important thing to note, Becky, is that we're not really hearing much from U.S. officials about everything that has gone down in the last 12
hours. And the reason for that is that the Trump administration really has a very small circle of individuals who have been working on these efforts.
Steve Witkoff, who is President Trump's Special Envoy for the Middle East, who obviously has been the person leading in talks with Russia, as well in
talks with Iran, and of course, these efforts to secure a cease fire in in Gaza, he really is the person who is the go to for what is happening right
now.
[10:30:00]
He just met with Netanyahu while he was in Israel, and after that, meeting with Witkoff and after a phone call with President Trump, Prime Minister
Netanyahu went from saying that there was no agreed to follow on talks for a ceasefire, following the expected release of Alexander, to then, saying,
that Israel would be sending a delegation to Doha tomorrow to discuss the possibility of further release of the Israeli hostages and a cease fire in
Gaza.
So, there is something that has occurred in the last few hours that has changed Netanyahu's tone. We'll have to watch and see if that how that
plays out over the course of the next few days here.
ANDERSON: Yes, it's going to be interesting. Of course, no stop on this three-nation tour. For Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump will be here in Riyadh,
moving on to Qatar and then to the UAE.
We are broadcasting to you. Thank you, Kylie, from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, shed of what the White House calls an historic return to the Middle
East for U.S. President Donald Trump.
In the next hour or so, the president is scheduled to be wheeled up from Washington for the kingdom's capital. His first stop in this tour, which,
as I say, will include Qatar and the UAE. Mr. Trump's choice of the Gulf as his first major foreign destination. This, underlying the importance he
puts on this region as a partner in the global economy and diplomacy.
Faisal Abbas is here with me this hour. He is editor-in-chief of the multi- language daily of note, Arab News, which is headquartered here in Riyadh. Good friend of mine, and it's good to have you here. Thank you very much
indeed for joining us.
You argue in a piece for today's edition, Faisal, that when it comes to stability, mediation and real influence, no one is better positioned than
Riyadh. Those watching this show will rightly say, really? Explain.
FAISAL ABBAS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, ARAB NEWS: Well, Becky, first of all, thank you for having me. There is certainly that -- no surprise that President
Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his second coming, as the American administration and many others around the world have recently discovered
all routes lead to Riyadh or via Riyadh, whether it's, as of recently, the mediation between India and Pakistan, where Saudi Arabia dispatched one of
its most senior diplomats, Adil Al-Jubeir.
While other countries, perhaps, thought they could solve a problem with a phone call, he went on shutter diplomacy, really, or helicopter diplomacy,
to be more accurate, whether it's a mediating between the warring parties in Sudan, whether it's trying to mediate between Ukraine and Russia.
Saudi Arabia has been very active in putting its economic weight, its religious clout and its economic power into Being a force for good, and
President Trump, being the pragmatist, being the businessman that he is, will certainly want to take advantage or use that force for good.
ANDERSON: Yes. I know, sure. I mean, he said he wants to get rid of these forever wars. He said he wants peace, and he says he wants an end to these
conflicts. And frankly, you know, he is getting some wins, and certainly Steve Witkoff is getting some progress, at least on a myriad of files at
this point.
Look, so, there is this -- there is this sort of leadership role that Riyadh is playing and will increasingly play.
There was also, of course, you know, an economic vision here and a lot of cash. So, you also wrote today, putting America first -- Donald Trump, does
not mean ignoring opportunities. In fact, you say it means seizing them.
Talk to us about just how much this goes both ways, as it were. I mean, Donald Trump wants to see trillions invested in the U.S. economy. The Saudi
economy is on the move, and Saudi also needs huge support financially.
ABBAS: Absolutely, Becky. And there is certainly a lot of optimism. There is a very positive momentum. This visit is about transformation. This visit
is about thinking of tomorrow, about planting seeds for the next generation, for the next 80 years.
And finally, we have a president who is willing to cut through the bureaucracy. Yes, there are billions of dollars that Saudi Arabia is
willing to invest. And we have a vision that has everything accounted for.
We -- to achieve this vision, we will need help in our nuclear program, we need help buying planes for our aviation, for our new airline. We have new
industries being set up, and who better than our American friends to be on top of the list?
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: So, let's be quite clear about this, you know. Saudi sees, you know, a real opportunity here to be an indispensable ally across
geopolitics, geo tech, geo-economics and geo tech. These real sort of three pillars, as it were, of international affairs.
[10:35:11]
But it also wants to see that this is a mutually beneficial relationship, which, to a degree, is how the U.S. and Saudi have always been set up
through Aramco, 90 years ago.
ABBAS: Absolutely.
ANDERSON: This is about national interests on both sides. If America has an America First policy, well, Saudi has its own Saudi first policy, and it's
unapologetic about its economic vision here.
ABBAS: Absolutely. Becky, this is about alignment. As I said, you have a president who is willing to put American interests first, and American
interests surely are to seize these opportunities.
It is not every day that the country the size of Western Europe, with a G20 economy, the world's most important oil producer, is going through a
massive transformation.
Now, you know, we -- you said something about Saudi wanting -- we've always wanted to be the ally of choice. It's just the bureaucracy, the politics
sometimes got in the way. But we've seen what happened in the past when America blinked, other competitors came in and took the 5G contracts.
What, I'm sure, President Trump is about is making sure that he doesn't miss another opportunity.
ANDERSON: And this is a pivotal opportunity for the U.S. Golf relationship into a new era. There is no doubt about that. It's good to have you. Always
a pleasure. We will stay in touch over this trip, but it's been interesting.
I'm just -- one of my sources here, just sending me a list of the CEOs of note, who will be here in Saudi Arabia for the U.S.-Saudi investment
conference tomorrow. That is conference that the president will be speaking out.
They include Uber, Nvidia, Google, Open A.I., Cisco, Scale A.I., Amazon, Zoom, LinkedIn, and the -- and the list goes on. So, you can see there is
clear alignment between these big businesses, both in the states and here. But if anybody thinks that they are coming for a blank check these days, I
think the story from Riyadh or the message from Riyadh is that is not this new era.
Well, still to come, Donald Trump will soon kick off his Middle East tour. A look at what's at stake as the president turns to his Gulf allies looking
for wins.
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ANDERSON: In an historic move, the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, says it will dissolve. Groups' in-prison leader asked his followers to lay down
their arms back in March.
[10:40:04]
Now, the militant separatist group has fought for an independent Kurdish state inside Turkey for nearly 50 years, although, in recent years, the
group has called for more autonomy within Turkey instead. Well, tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict.
Joining us now to discuss is Fawaz Gerges. He is a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, and these are
interesting times, certainly around this region, not least with this news.
Fawaz, your reaction to this announcement. They've -- the PKK have decided to dissolve after decades of conflict with Turkey. What's its significance
and its consequence?
FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, thanks for having me, Becky.
And when, I think, if the PKK lays down its arms and basically disarms, this could be a historical turning point, a game changer, not only between
the Kurds and Turkey, but also between the neighbor states -- neighboring state.
If the decision is cared through, it would end four decades of political violence between the PKK and the Turkish government. More than 40,000
people have been killed in the past four decades as a result of the insurgency between the PKK and Turkey.
It would also have major reverberations on the situations in northeastern Syria and the Iraq as well. But we have to wait and see, because we have
been there before, and we also have to see whether the Turkish government reciprocates, whether it really would allow the imprisoned PKK leader,
Abdullah Ocalan to oversee the demilitarization process. He has been incarcerated near Istanbul since 19 -- since the late 1990s.
And whether -- and whether Turkey basically expands the cultural and educational autonomy for the Kurds inside Turkey itself.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: OK. It's good to have you on that. And while I've got you, I do want to talk just very briefly about what you -- what you understand to be
at the status of these U.S.-Iran talks Faisal -- Fawaz.
GERGES: Well, I am -- I think, I am hopeful at this particular stage, because both sides obviously want a deal. The Iranian government has made
it very clear that they want to avoid all out military confrontation with the United States, and they are terrified that Benjamin Netanyahu is trying
to drag the United States into war with Iraq, and President Donald Trump has made it very clear he prefers a deal to a military confrontation. Yes.
With that, we going to leave it there. We thank you very much indeed. I'm Becky Anderson in Riyadh, President Trump due to be wheeled up from
Washington and headed this way on his first stop in what is a three-nation tour shortly.
"WORLDSPORT" coming up.
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(WORLDSPORT)
END
