Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud gave Trump the kind of reception the president adores - an elaborate ceremony featuring military might, escorts on horse back for the Beast, and a royal purple carpet. The national anthems of both nations played.

Trump, in a purple tie for the occasion, chatted amiably with MBS, as the Saudi Crown Prince is known. Formal introductions were made of the delegations and an elaborate coffee and tea ceremony took place.

After the outdoor, royal welcome, the two men adjourned to the palace for their first formal talks of the day. Heavy hitters from Trump's world were there to witness it all, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Elon Musk.

The mood was jovial with smiles, handshakes and well wishes exchanged.

Both sides have their agenda for this trip: Trump is courting the Saudis for $1 trillion in business investments while Riyadh will offer to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

President Donald Trump chatted amiably with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

MBS put on the show for the president from the moment Trump crossed into Saudi airspace.

Air Force One was escorted to its landing by Saudi F-15 fighter jets, an honor guard awaited, and the crown prince welcomed Trump himself, leading him to cool refreshment and small talk in elaborate navy-and-gold armchairs.

Saudi Arabia is the first of three stops Trump will make on his four-day tour.

He'll also visit the lavish wealthy fiefdoms of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

In all three countries Trump will aim, at a minimum, to announce economic deals - with hopes that progress can be made on some complicated geopolitical issues as well.

But, first, Trump will spend Tuesday in various engagements with MBS.

The long-term goal is to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords - one of the biggest foreign policy achievements of Trump's first administration.

Hamas' terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 - and the ongoing war in Gaza - threw a wrench in the Biden administration's, and now the Trump administration's, push to have Saudi join the accords.

MBS has pushed that the Saudis would need there to be a pathway to Gaza becoming a Palestinian state for them to join the pact now.

But first, the war in Gaza would need to end.

Some progress was made on Monday when American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander was released by Hamas in a deal etched out between the Palestinian terror group and the U.S.

The Beast was escorted by men on horse back

President Donald Trump reviews the honour guard at the Royal Court in Riyadh

President Donald Trump walks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an official state arrival ceremony

On Tuesday, Trump will showcase the best in American business.

Tesla founder Elon Musk and several of the biggest names in American businesses will attend a Saudi-U.S. investment forum in Riyadh, joining Trump and the Saudi crown prince for a lavish luncheon.

A crowd of the who's who on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley also will be there, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altma, Musk's brother Kimbal, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman, Amazon's Andy Jassy, Google's Ruth Porat, and Boeing's Kelly Ortberg.

The showcase of America's business titans comes as Trump is pushing Saudi Arabia to invest big in America.

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