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Eric Trump, the son of the US president, has travelled to the Gulf as the Trump family expands their business in the region, striking a deal involving a Qatari state-owned company shortly before Donald Trump is scheduled to visit.
The Trump Organization on Wednesday agreed a deal in which Saudi construction company Dar Global will license the Trump name for a branded golf club and luxury villas north of Doha, part of a development led by Qatari state company Qatari Diar.
The Trump Organization and Dar Global also this week launched the 80-floor Trump International Hotel and Tower in Dubai.
Although Trump’s sons manage the company, the deals will stoke concerns that the president’s family stands to benefit financially from business in countries with whom the US has close relationships, including in defence.
It also marks a shift from Trump’s first term, when his family real estate group refrained from starting new projects.
Speaking at a cryptocurrency conference in Dubai on Thursday, Eric Trump heaped praise on the United Arab Emirates, an absolute monarchy and key US partner in the region.
“The rest of the world has to be careful of the UAE for one reason,” he said. “They always arrive at the word ‘yes’, which is a beautiful thing, and they do it quickly.” He said the Dubai hotel had been approved in a month.
The Trump Organization executive vice-president also congratulated the Middle East for resisting the “woke cancel culture movement that spread across so much of the world. They’ve done a great job keeping that nonsense out of here. And I really applaud you.”
The president’s son is visiting the UAE for at least the third time in 10 months. The family business is also developing a Trump golf club and residences in Oman, and a Trump tower in Saudi Arabia’s second city Jeddah.
Ahead of his father’s election victory, he told the Financial Times that the Trump family business intended to continue doing deals in the oil-rich region but denied any conflict of interest in the event that his father was re-elected, saying the company did not deal directly with governments.
The Trump family has also waded into the volatile digital asset industry, with Trump-branded tokens and crypto firm World Liberty Financial.
Eric Trump was joined onstage at Thursday’s conference by Zach Witkoff, World Liberty Financial’s co-founder and the son of Trump’s diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been tasked with heading peace talks in the Middle East and Ukraine.
In another business connection between the Trump family and the UAE, Zach Witkoff announced that Abu Dhabi investment vehicle MGX had decided to use World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin to close its $2bn investment in crypto exchange Binance, a deal that was announced in March. Binance was hit with a record fine by the US Department of Justice after pleading guilty to criminal charges.
Zach Witkoff said at the conference that “we’ve been travelling the world and meeting with governments”.
“I think we really need to take a page out of His Highness’s and the Emirates’ book,” he said. “They are just an amazing example of how you can lead with innovation while also maintaining your family values and cultural values.”
The US president is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE later this month. The Gulf is home to huge sovereign wealth funds and growing economies, and both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have pledged to invest billions in the US. More deals and investments are expected to be announced during Trump’s trip.
The region is also an important diplomatic venue for the US, which is conducting talks with Iran in Oman and with Russia in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Doha hosts the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, which the US helps to mediate.
The US military has bases across the region, and Gulf countries are among the biggest buyers of arms from American companies — deals that require government approval.
