The Trump Organization is in talks to brand Diriyah, a $63 billion Saudi government-led redevelopment project, which comes days before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is scheduled to visit Washington.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that executives associated with Diriyah and Dar Global have described aggressive negotiations and public promotion of Trump-branded projects across the Persian Gulf, suggesting licensing revenue is steadily flowing into the president’s family while U.S. officials consider defense and technology cooperation with Riyadh.
Financial disclosures and media coverage show that these licensing deals are both lucrative and opaque. Dar Global has paid tens of millions of dollars to the Trump Organization in recent years, a pattern that critics call a textbook conflict of interest currently playing out on the world stage.
The optics are tough. President Trump toured Diriyah during his state visit to Saudi Arabia and later inspected architectural models displayed by developers at an official event. This is literally a performance of private branding within the theater of diplomacy.
This play is important because at the same time that MBS has arrived to pursue narrow security goals, including talks on defense cooperation and sensitive technology, developers are surfacing brand deals that will enrich the president’s family.
Lawmakers and ethics experts have warned that this repeated overlap between private interests and public policy could undermine trust and skew U.S. decisions toward partners that also serve as commercial backers.
Beyond the Persian Gulf towers and license fees, the government has overseen decisions that critics say are squarely aligned with the interests of its family and allies, from relaxing high-tech export controls to crypto-friendly amnesty.
The drip of episodes now becomes a torrent. The Army’s recent purchase of 3,500 drone motors from Unusual Machines, a company in which Donald Trump Jr. owns about $4 million in stock and serves as an advisor, and the prospect of an even larger follow-on order, has renewed ethical vigilance over procurement routes close to family investments.
The public support associated with the Mar-a-Lago protests and Trump Jr. has soared its stock price and profile, creating a strong narrative of private profit riding on public funds.
At the same time, the Treasury Department-led Argentina stabilization policy and $2 billion in Emirati investments linked to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture have sparked accusations that the policy is being marshaled to serve well-connected financiers.
The pardon of Binance founder Qiao Changpeng after reports of financial ties to Trump family projects, and ethics immunity for an administration adviser who brokered chip and cryptocurrency negotiations, further blurs the line between governance and commerce.