- International Policy
Saudi Arabia and the United States
Updated: May 17, 2019
Saudi Arabia's ability to use American weapons to wage war and perpetuate one of the worst humanitarian crises in Yemen directly links to the influence they've purchased in the United States, from lobbying to direct campaign contributions. Below is a collection of the work from our Directors and Experts that aims to expose this injustice.
The Saudi lobbying machine continues to exert influence on Congress — and Trump
This article first appeared in the Washington Post
Ben Freeman is the director and founder of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy. The article was released as an introduction to his full report: The Saudi Lobby in 2018
Click the image below to read the full report
US Military Support for Saudi Arabia and the
War in Yemen
A report by Arms & Security Director Bill Hartung
Click on the image below to read the full report.
Key Findings of the Report:
The Saudi military is heavily dependent on U.S. weapons and support, and could not operate effectively without them. The Saudi land forces and national guard possess over 3,000 U.S.-supplied armored vehicles, and the Saudis have tens of thousands of U.S.-supplied bombs and missiles.
Saudi arms sales support at most tens of thousands of jobs in the United States, not hundreds of thousands or “a million,” as President Trump has claimed.
Many of the jobs created by U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia will be located in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S.-Saudi arms trade has a marginal impact on the U.S. economy: even the high-end estimate of 40,000 U.S. jobs related to Saudi arms deals represents less than three one-hundredths of one percent of the U.S. labor force of over 160 million people.
Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics are by far the biggest beneficiaries of the U.S.-Saudi arms trade.
Cutting off U.S. arms and support is the best way to press for an end to the Yemen war.
Read the full report here. Read Bill Hartung's latest article, It's Time to Stop Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, here.
Total U.S. Arms Sales Notifications for Saudi Arabia
in 2017 & 2018
A fact sheet of data collected by our Security Assistance Monitor. Click the fact sheet to see sources and to explore SAM's databases on arms sales and military aid and training.
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