How Trump's tariffs could affect Saudi Arabia giga-project The Line as new projected cost reaches $8,800,000,000,000

Donald Trump’s tariffs have sparked economic panic and confusion across the globe, but they could also cause major issues for one of Saudi Arabia’s upcoming projects.

The Line is intended to be Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious infrastructure project and, as you can imagine, it is set to cost quite a pretty penny.

The mega-city project, being helmed by NEOM, essentially consists of a huge, mirrored skyscraper on its side in the desert of the Tabuk Province. This could be the mark of the natural evolution of humanity or a step towards a dystopian future, depending on its execution.

It's set to be 105 miles long as well as 200 meters wide, and has been designed in the hopes of housing a whopping nine million people once it's completed.

Shockingly, the project is aiming to be completed by 2030, a very tight deadline indeed but has come up against some major issues that might make this goal impossible.

The Line was estimated to cost around $1 trillion, however, new projections have seen this figure massively increase.

Seemingly as a result of the ongoing economic feuds between nations and uncertainty following Trump’s global tariff announcement, oil prices plunged 11 percent, Reuters reports.

For the oil-dependent Saudi Arabia, this could spell serious trouble. Despite wanting to shift away from oil, the country is still heavily reliant on it for trade and generating significant wealth.

A combination of issues could ultimately result in the project costing up to $8.8 trillion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

HSBC’s chief economist for the Middle East, Simon Williams, reflected on this shift and said: “Non-oil revenue has risen, but spending has risen more quickly as the kingdom has stepped up its development plans.

The project has allegedly seen an increase in costs (NEOM)

“And that inevitably means the budget is more oil-revenue reliant than it has been in the past.”

As well as this impact on oil, increased tariffs could end up disrupting the global supply chain that NEOM relies on to build the mega project.

A new audit, recently seen by the Wall Street Journal and submitted to the NEOM board a year ago, also that claims the actual costs of the endeavor may have been hidden from the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. This is in addition to the project reportedly being behind schedule and costs rising.

The outlet states the audit highlights that management allegedly kept problems from the crown prince while also offering unrealistic assumptions in the business plan.

However, a NEOM spokeswoman said the Wall Street Journal was 'incorrectly interpreting' and misrepresenting the figures.

UNILAD has contacted NEOM for comment.

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