Donald Trump golfs with the Saudis as the nation snubs Joe Biden on the world stage

A golf course in New York run by Donald Trump’s company will host a Saudi-backed golf tournament this week, the same day Saudi Arabia announced it had rejected an appeal by the Biden administration to overturn the latest decision by OPEC to reduce oil production.

The three-day women’s Aramco Team Series begins October 13 at Trump Golf Links in Ferry Point, New York, the second time this year a course managed by the former president’s company has hosted a tournament related to Saudi Arabia.

The Aramco Team Series is separate from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour, which Trump was previously criticized for hosting this summer for claims the tour would be used to help Saudi Arabia get good publicity after he was accused of human rights abuses.

The start of this week’s tournament comes as Saudi Arabia announced that the US government had formally asked OPEC to delay its recent decision to cut oil production by a month, an appeal that was ultimately rejected.

The group of major oil-producing nations known as OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, confirmed on October 5 that they will drastically cut their oil production, a move that threatens to hike US gasoline prices before the midterms.

Biden, who hopes Democrats can retain control of both the House and Congress in November, saw his approval ratings plummet earlier this year amid record gas prices and rising inflation rates.

In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry did not specifically mention that the US government is seeking to delay the OPEC decision until early November.

“The UK government, through its ongoing consultation with the US government, has made it clear that all economic analysis indicates that postponing the OPEC+ decision by one month, as proposed, would have had negative economic consequences,” the ministry said.

The move to cut oil production has been seen by critics as deliberately siding with Russia amid the war in Ukraine and in retaliation for Biden’s criticism of Saudi Arabia over its human rights abuses and Saudi assassination Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The decision to cut oil production also came after Biden visited Saudi Arabia for the first time as president to try to keep crude flowing.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had turned down a request to speak to Biden on the phone as the president tried to persuade the kingdom to pump more oil to ease pressure from Russia’s oil ban.

Biden, who called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” during his 2020 election campaign, told CNN that Saudi Arabia will face “consequences for what it has done” regarding the OPEC+ decision.

“I’m not going to get into what I’m considering and what I have in mind. But there will be consequences,” Biden said.