Trump’s defence of Saudi crown prince shows US human rights shift

US leader has praised prominent autocratic rulers and taken a transactional approach

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When US President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia’s crown prince this week over the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he did more than just stir renewed accusations from critics of an affinity towards strongmen.

Mr Trump’s remarks, which contradicted US intelligence findings, threw into stark relief just how far his administration has shifted away from the traditional US support for human rights globally.

Nearly all recent US administrations have worked with leaders with poor human rights records in order to advance US interests.

But more than any recent occupant of the White House, Mr Trump has not only praised prominent autocratic rulers, from Saudi Arabia and Hungary to China and El Salvador, but has also shown little interest in reining them in, instead taking a more transactional approach.

Just how much US human rights policy has changed under Mr Trump was crystallised in the Oval Office on Nov 18, when he denied that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played any role in the murder of Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership, despite US intelligence assessing the opposite.

“Trump has ignored some of the most fundamental principles underpinning US relations with the world,” said Mr Brett Bruen, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration and now head of the Global Situation Room consultancy. “His words and actions give a green light to strongmen to do whatever they want.”

Mr Trump has focused this week instead on helping Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler rehabilitate his global image, giving him red carpet treatment at the White House, touting burgeoning economic and security ties with the world’s biggest oil exporter, and bringing him together with top US chief executives.