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Donald Trump’s son Eric has said his family’s real estate and hospitality business wants to pursue more deals in the Middle East, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest if his father wins another term in the White House.
The Trump Organization, founded by the former president and overseen by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, has struck agreements with London-listed Saudi Arabian real estate company Dar Global to launch a luxury resort in the Gulf state of Oman, and develop a Trump Tower in Jeddah. Trump already operates a golf course in the Middle East’s glitzy financial hub Dubai, with local developer Damac.
“We will definitely be doing other projects in this region,” Eric Trump told the Financial Times in Dubai, prior to the Jeddah announcement. “This region has explosive growth, and that’s not stopping anytime soon.”
The family’s recent Middle East business forays, as well as the hedge fund of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, raising $2bn from Saudi Arabia, has provided fodder for critics who say the former president risks being beholden to foreign influence if he returns to power.
Oman and Saudi Arabia are both absolute monarchies, which require White House approval to buy US weapons. They are also both important to US foreign policy in the region: Oman is a crucial interlocutor in negotiations with Iran, while the US is pushing Saudi to normalise relations with Israel.
The Trump Organization will manage, design and provide branding for the tower in Jeddah. And it will earn branding fees on Trump-labelled residential properties in the Oman resort while managing a luxury hotel and golf course under what Eric Trump called “very long-term management contracts” of 25 to 30 years. This means the Trump family would potentially continue to profit long after Donald Trump was re-elected.
Asked if his company’s dealmaking abroad was storing up conflicts of interest, Eric Trump said: “I don’t really deal with foreign governments,” adding: “I’m a hotel operator and I’m on the operations side . . . I’m not walking down to a local municipal building to get a permit for a golf club.”
Regardless, “my father’s not in office”, he said. “When he’s in office we’ll make that decision as to whether or not we go hands-off again.”
“But now it’s not [a] conflict of interest,” he insisted, adding that the family business had taken “a long pause” during his father’s previous tenure.
However, Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law school professor and former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W Bush, said he had “a lot of concern” about Trump returning to the White House while his family has economic dealings in a sensitive region with massive geopolitical implications.
“Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, and has been accused of human rights violations and a whole range of issues,” said Painter. “I think it’s very important for an American president to not have their own financial interests over in that region, while they are making very difficult decisions for the United States.”
Democrats have criticised the former president over $7.8mn worth of bookings by foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, at Trump properties during his time in office — money Eric Trump said had been donated back to the US Treasury.
But the wider Trump family’s business dealings in the Middle East have also attracted attention, and Democrats have sought information about funding for Kushner’s hedge fund Affinity Partners, which he opened after leaving the White House. The Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has invested $2bn in Affinity.
Donald Trump’s first foreign visit in office was to Riyadh, and his administration — particularly through Kushner, who advised him on the Middle East — had a good relationship with Prince Mohammed.
While the Trumps insist their business is separate from politics, Eric’s brother Donald Jr. is a big draw at fundraisers for his father’s presidential campaign, and Eric’s wife, Lara, has recently become co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Eric Trump praised his wife’s work, saying she had fired “about 70 per cent” of the RNC’s staff in a managerial shake-up.
Eric Trump declined to rule out a role for himself in a future Trump White House.
“I never rule anything out in life,” he said. “I happen to really love the real estate side. I tend to not like the political side nearly as much. I can operate very well in that field, and I do.”
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