With visit from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, foreign affairs intersects with Trump's personal fortune
When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Washington on Tuesday, President Donald Trump will yet again find himself face-to-face with the ruler of a country where he and his family have immense personal business at stake.
The Trump Organization has multiple active projects in Saudi Arabia, including Trump Towers in both Jeddah and Riyadh.
And on the eve of bin Salman’s visit, the Trump Organization announced plans a new project with their Saudi-linked development partners, Dar Global, in the Maldives set to open in 2028.
The Trump Organization and Dar Global said Trump International Hotel Maldives, with its 80 beachfront villas, would be the world’s first “tokenized” hotel development project, according to a press release issued Monday morning, meaning it would allow investors to use digital currencies to finance their positions.
“This pioneering collaboration not only brings the Trump brand to one of the world’s most exclusive destinations but also introduces an unprecedented financial innovation, tokenizing the development of a luxury hospitality project for the first time,” the release stated.
Last month, the Trump Organization also announced plans for a Trump Plaza to be built in Saudi Arabia, complete with “a vibrant green spine inspired by Central Park that brings Manhattan-style vibrancy to the heart of Jeddah.”
Promotional materials for these lucrative endeavors feature soaring, glimmering glass structures bearing the Trump name – and grainy black-and-white images of a young Trump himself.
Trump has also brokered ties with LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed golf league launched to rival the PGA. His U.S. golf courses have hosted several LIV golf tournaments, and earlier this year, Trump attended a Liv Golf dinner at his Doral property in Miami.
The crown prince’s visit represents just the latest intersection of America’s foreign affairs and the president’s personal fortune. The Trump Organization has also brokered licensing deals in several nearby Gulf states, including in Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with an apartment complex slated to open in 2026 featuring what has been marketed as the world’s biggest outdoor pool.
The developer for those projects, Dar Global, the London-listed international subsidiary of Dar Al Arkan, is a major Saudi company that reportedly maintains close ties with the Saudi royal family.
Dar pumped more than $20 million into the Trump Organization’s coffers last year in licensing fees, financial disclosures show, including more than $15 million into a Delaware-based company called DT Marks KSA, an acronym for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dar’s U.S. offices are listed as the 19th floor of 725 Fifth Ave. in New York – also known as Trump Tower.
In an interview with Arab News last December at the launch event for the Trump Tower in Jeddah, Eric Trump said projects in Saudi Arabia and around the Gulf would continue to attract the Trump Organization, citing the region’s “uplifting” mindset.
“And that mindset is going to return to America, believe me, in the next four years under my father,” he said. “It makes you want to come over here and do something really great, and it kind of makes you want to say ‘no’ to other countries where it’s just impossible to navigate the political system – they’re just too cumbersome.”
The White House has repeatedly denied that any of the Trump family’s business ventures present a conflict of interest.
In May, press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it "frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit."
Before Trump's second term, his son Eric said the Trump Organization hired an outside ethics adviser to "proactively address potential conflicts."
