President Donald Trump says he has agreed to sell the nation's most advanced fighter jet to Saudi Arabia despite concerns that China could gain access to the plane's vaunted American technology.

President Trump said Tuesday he will designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, marking a step up in defense ties between the U.S. and the Gulf monarchy.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that he was formally designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally, as he seeks to deepen relations, both militarily and economically, with the Islamic kingdom.

Trump has also brokered ties with LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed golf league launched to rival the PGA. His U.S. golf courses have hosted several LIV golf tournaments, and earlier this year, Trump attended a Liv Golf dinner at his Doral property in Miami.

The deal is likely to shift the balance of power in the region, strengthening Saudi Arabia as a Middle Eastern powerhouse and the first Arab nation to receive the most advanced American fighter jets.

Trump says that he is designating Saudi Arabia a “Major Non-NATO Ally,” during dinner remarks for the Saudi crown prince. The president says the classification would take the country’s military cooperation with the United States “to even greater heights.

The CIA determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the 2018 killing. Trump praised bin Salman for his human rights record.

President Trump is deepening the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia, despite the government coming under fire for human right abuses, despite the concerns the prince himself ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.