“That would be hurting us,” he said about halting arms sales to Saudi, according to a report in Economic Times. “We have jobs, we have a lot of things happening in this country. We have a country that’s doing probably better economically than it’s ever done before. Part of that is what we’re doing with our defense systems and everybody’s wanting them. And frankly, I think that that would be a very, very tough pill to swallow for our country. I mean, you’re affecting us and, you know, they’re always quick to jump that way.”

It may be noted that in May 2017, Trump and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed an agreement that allowed the Arab nation to purchase arms from the U.S. totaling $110 billion. In March this year, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of an estimated $670 million in anti-tank missiles to Saudi.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump increased pressure on Saudi Arabia to provide information on Khashoggi. The journalist disappeared last week after visiting the Saudi consulate in Turkey.