“This is Masa of SoftBank from Japan,” Mr. Trump said before boasting<br />that Mr. Son’s SoftBank — which is in the process of amassing a giant $100 billion fund — had pledged to invest $50 billion in the United States and would create 50,000 jobs here.<br />All that said, can you imagine if Mr. Trump stood in the lobby of Trump Tower with Prince<br />Mohammed talking about a $50 billion investment in the United States from Saudi Arabia?<br />Yet unmentioned that day — and largely unremarked upon — is<br />that Mr. Son’s $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund could reasonably be described as a front for Saudi Arabia and perhaps other countries in the Middle East.<br />Son has pledged to provide a quarter of the fund himself, hardly any of the money comes from investors in the United States<br />— with the exception of several nominal $1 billion investments, including from Apple, Qualcomm and Larry Ellison of Oracle.<br />While Mr. Trump wants to stimulate foreign investment in the United States, he has also talked tough about the Middle East and terrorism.<br />Last year, however, when Saudi Arabia invested $3.5 billion in Uber, it kicked up some dust: Fortune magazine said the deal “poses a sort<br />of moral dilemma for Silicon Valley; forcing businesses to weigh investors’ record and financial firepower against their principles.”<br />Saudi Arabia has been transparent about its plans to diversify its economy away from its dependence on oil.
