Honestly, I’m not sure this accomplishes anything when dealing with a commodity.
So we don’t buy it, but we buy from the rest of the world and we buy from ourselves. The rest of the world buys from the Saudis, us, and the rest of the world.
It’s a shell game with no benefit.
So, if it’s not the oil, why are we protecting them?
“It’s a shell game with no benefit.”
Of course there is benefit.
The Chinese and Russians would love to be on even better terms with the Saudis, particularly selling them military equipment.