Saudi Crown Prince’s U.S. Tour Will Surely Avoid the Ongoing Rift in the Gulf

This week, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince and the presumed real leader of the kingdom, arrives in the United States for a lengthy visit. On his trip, the 32-year-old prince, the architect of a newly bullish Saudi foreign policy, will likely address a wide range of bilateral and regional issues that have, on balance, strengthened U.S.-Saudi ties since Donald Trump became president. The visit is unlikely to herald any breakthrough in the nearly 10-month-long rift within the Gulf Cooperation Council, which pits Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—plus Egypt—against Qatar. Trump’s pro-Saudi instincts have made the more balanced mediation efforts of Defense Secretary James Mattis and outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson less productive. The region, meanwhile, has settled into a long-term adjustment to the new status quo.

Mohammed bin Salman’s trip begins with much fanfare in Washington, where he will meet with U.S. officials. But then it turns into a country-wide tour, with stops in New York, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, for talks with influential economic, technology, energy and finance figures. The upstart prince is promoting his ambitious Vision 2030 initiative, a reform agenda for a more modern kingdom, which includes improving the status of women and diversifying the economy. Despite some setbacks, the plan has faced no serious resistance at home in no small measure because MBS, as he’s called, has actively cowed elites with high-profile detentions of some of the wealthiest Saudis and expanded social space for young people in the deeply conservative kingdom. ...