NEW YORK �� Donald Trump spoke on the phone Saturday with King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, days after the U.S. president's latest criticism of OPEC.
Trump has been increasing pressure on OPEC, saying it's pushing oil prices too high. At its latest meeting, the group ignored his call to reduce prices.
This past week, Trump again said he wasn't happy with OPEC, Middle East nations and oil prices, asserting that the producer group was causing prices to rise while benefiting from protection of the U.S. military. Trump has gone after OPEC several times this year, including while speaking at the United Nations Tuesday.
"OPEC and OPEC nations, are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world, and I don't like it," Trump said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. "We want them to stop raising prices. We want them to start lowering prices and they must contribute substantially to military protection from now on."
It's unclear what was discussed on the phone call, which was noted in a press pool report. The White House, which doesn't routinely provide transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders, didn't respond to a request for comment.
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(Blas reported from London. Tamara Thueringer contributed to this report.)
