Before Trump began his visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. had already traveled the Middle East extensively in recent weeks. They were drumming up business for The Trump Organization, which they are running in their father’s stead while he’s in the White House.
Eric Trump announced plans for an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city.
He also attended a recent cryptocurrency conference there with Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and son of Trump’s do-everything envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff.
“We are proud to expand our presence in the region,” Eric Trump said last month in announcing that Trump Tower Dubai was set to start construction this fall.
The presidential visit to the region, as his children work the same part of the world for the family’s moneymaking opportunities, puts a spotlight on Trump’s willingness to embrace foreign deal making while in the White House, even in the face of growing concerns that doing so could tempt him, to shape US foreign policy in ways that benefit his family’s bottom line.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump said when asked by reporters about the transaction on Wednesday.
Jon Hoffman, a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, said: “Given the extensive ties between LIV Golf and the PIF, or between Trump enterprises more generally and the Gulf, I’d say there’s a pretty glaring conflict of interest here,”
He was referring to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has invested heavily in everything from global sports giants to video game maker Nintendo with the aim of diversifying the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.
Trump said he did not talk about LIV Golf during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
