As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, his namesake is expanding his global footprint.
Trump’s son Eric Trump, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, formally announced Wednesday that the family’s real estate company is partnering with Saudi Arabian real estate firm Dar Al Arkan to launch a Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, the Trump Organization announced it had leased its name to two projects in the Saudi capital Riyadh, increasing the company’s role in a part of the world critical to US foreign policy.
“We’re doing projects in Jeddah, we’re doing projects in Oman, we’re doing projects in Riyadh, we’re doing projects across the region,” Eric Trump said this week at a cryptocurrency conference in the United Arab Emirates.
The approach follows a lucrative business strategy the Trumps have embraced for decades — making money by licensing their name to projects rather than building or manufacturing them themselves. The recently announced projects are a significant expansion for the Trump Organization in Saudi Arabia, where they currently operate a golf course with another under development.
“We are pleased to strengthen our ongoing relationship with The Trump Organization and expand our portfolio by providing premium properties to redefine Saudi Arabia’s high-growth real estate market,” said Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Dar Global.
Trump was criticized for his close relationship with — and defense of — Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in his first term following the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. The Saudi government and Mohammed bin Salman have denied that the prince ordered the killing.
In this Dec. 20, 2016 photo, a flag flies on a green lined with villas at the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kamran Jebreili/AP, FILE
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has also invested billions in the private equity firm of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
During his first term, Trump promised that his company would not enter into foreign business deals, but it remains unclear whether the president-elect will make a similar pledge when he returns to the White House.
“Should I stop all expansion? I don’t know what the answer is. I tried to do everything right in 2016 and I got very little credit for it,” Eric Trump told the Wall Street Journal in October, expressing confidence that the company would avoid conflicts.
A representative for Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
In the months leading up to the election, the Trump Organization has ramped up its overseas business, including agreeing to manage and brand a $500 million hotel and golf course in the Middle Eastern country of Oman and licensing its name to a Trump Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“The UAE is the developer’s biggest dream because they never say no to anything,” Eric Trump said at the crypto conference earlier this week.
