Riyadh: The White House announced a huge arms deal with Saudi Arabia on Saturday as President Donald Trump took his first steps on the world stage, looking to leave mounting troubles behind at home.
The USD 110 billion deal for Saudi purchases of US defence equipment and services came at the start of an eight-day foreign tour that will also take Trump to Jerusalem, the Vatican and meetings with leaders in Europe.
Air Force One had barely taken off when it was announced late on Wednesday that James Comey, the former FBI chief fired by Trump, had agreed to testify publicly about Russian interference in the US elections.
Reports also emerged that Trump had called Comey "a nut job" and that the FBI had identified a senior White House official as a "significant person of interest" in its probe of Russian meddling.
The president and first lady Melania Trump were welcomed by Saudi King Salman as they disembarked at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, on Saturday morning.
Trump and his wife, who dressed conservatively in black but did not cover her hair as Saudi women are required to do, walked side-by-side to the tarmac where they both shook hands with the 81-year-old king.
The arms sale agreement was just one of a series of deals to be announced during the visit, with US conglomerate General Electric saying it had also signed agreements and memorandums of understanding worth $15 billion.
"This package of defence equipment and services support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian threats," a White House official said in announcing the deal.
Trump held talks with Salman and was to meet the kingdom's two powerful crown princes on Saturday, before giving a speech on Islam to leaders of Muslim countries on Sunday.
A more muted focus on human rights should also please Washington's traditional Sunni Gulf allies, analysts say.
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