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Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to US President Donald Trump, listens as Trump delivers remarks to auto industry executives at American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, Michigan on March 15, 2017.

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Jared Kushner, advisor and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, attends a meeting between Trump and carmakers in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2018. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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White House Senior Advisor and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner reads a statment in front of West Wing of the White House after testifying behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election July 24, 2017 in Washington, DC.

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From left: Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, and Sentor Gary Peters, D-MI, take part in a meeting with US President Donald Trump and members of Congress on trade in the Cabinet Room of the White House on February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 17: U.S. President Donald Trump (C) walks along the West Wing colonnade with his daughter Ivanka Trump (L) and his son-in-law and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning Jared Kushner before he departs the White House March 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. The first family is scheduled to spend the weekend at their Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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BEIJING, CHINA - NOVEMBER 9: White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner attends bilateral meetings held by U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on November 9, 2017 in Beijing, China. Trump is on a 10-day trip to Asia. (Photo by Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)

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Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, looks on during a meeting between Trump and Republican congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 6, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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Senior Advisor Jared Kushner listens as US President Donald Trump speaks to the press on August 11, 2017, at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

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US President Donald Trump (L) congratulates his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner after the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Story highlights

Kushner hoped to maneuver a discount with Lockheed

Ultimately, the two sides were able to reach an agreement

(CNN) —

President Donald Trump signed a nearly $110 billion defense deal with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Saturday, signaling the United States’ renewed commitment to its alliance with the Gulf kingdom and desire to bolster its counterterrorism partnership.

The deal was finalized in part thanks to the direct involvement of Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and senior adviser. He shocked a high-level Saudi delegation earlier this month when he personally called Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and asked if she would cut the price of a sophisticated missile detection system, according to a source with knowledge of the call.

Pressured to finalize a massive $100-plus billion arms deal in the two weeks leading up to Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Kushner hoped to maneuver a discount on Lockheed’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system during the Saudis’ visit to the White House on May 1 – a request that Hewson said she would look into at the time.

The New York Times first reported the exchange between Kushner and Hewson.

On Saturday, near the end of Trump’s first day in the kingdom, the two leaders inked a deal greenlighting a $109 billion defense deal, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said was a component of $350 billion in economic and defense investments between the two countries over the next 10 years.

Lockheed’s Hewson was on hand Saturday in the cavernous Riyadh ballroom where Trump and Salman made the deal official.

The company was “proud to be part of this historic announcement that will strengthen the relationship between” the US and Saudi Arabia,” Hewson said. The sales authorized under the deal would bolster Saudi Arabia’s security, provide an economic boon to both countries and “strengthen the cause of peace in the region,” she added.

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epa05985803 A handout picture provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows Pope Francis (L) posing with US President Donald J. Trump on the occasion of their private audience, at the Vatican, 24 May 2017. Trump is at the Vaican and in Italy on a two day visit, ahead of his participation in a NATO summit in Brussels on 25 May. EPA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO/HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

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VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 29: Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he leaves St. Peter's Square at the the end of Palm Sunday Mass on March 29, 2015 in Vatican City, Vatican. On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate Jesus' arrival into Jerusalem, where he was put to death. It marks the official beginning of Holy Week during which Christians observe the death of Christ before celebrations begin on Easter. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

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