‘We’d Call That Corruption’: How Trump Uses The Presidency To Expand His Global Empire

Forbes

Donald Trump wasn’t making much from foreign deals. Then he regained power—and set aside the pretense that he cared about ethics.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2025/07/24/wed-call-that-corruption-how-trump-used-the-presidency-to-expand-his-global-empire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, how Trump used the presidency to expand his global empire.

00:06Quote, we'd call that corruption.

00:10On January 30th, 10 days after Donald Trump's inauguration, a firm with ties to the president

00:16created two companies in Delaware, DT Marks Abu Dhabi LLC and DT Marks Abu Dhabi Member

00:23Corp.

00:24The naming conventions of the entities, starting with Trump's initials, followed by the word

00:28marks, then a location of a future project, match how the president has named more than

00:3330 other licensing entities in his portfolio.

00:38The Trump Organization has not yet announced a deal in the capital of the United Arab Emirates,

00:42but it's likely just a matter of time.

00:45Since last fall, Trump has been on a deal-making spree, with his business revealing 8 new projects

00:50in just 10 months.

00:52His foreign licensing income shot up from an estimated $6 million in 2023 to nearly $50

00:58million last year.

01:00More business has headed Trump's way.

01:03Corporate filings point to at least three other unannounced deals in Abu Dhabi, Serbia, and Hungary.

01:10All of this represents an about-face for the president, who hung onto ownership of his assets

01:14during his first term but stuck them in a trust and promised to launch no new ventures overseas.

01:19In the six years after his initial election, he added only one deal, agreeing to brand a

01:25golf development in Oman.

01:27But today, Trump profits from politics with little reservation, both domestically, recently

01:33signing crypto legislation that probably made him tens of millions of dollars, and abroad,

01:39expanding his licensing empire at dizzying speed.

01:43The conflicts of interest are now more brazen and more overlooked than ever before.

01:49Trump's international travel, for instance, seems to be as much about his personal business

01:53as his national priorities.

01:55This past weekend, he headed to Scotland with plans to visit the two towns where he has golf

02:00resorts.

02:01His only other trip abroad since reassuming the presidency, besides a quick jaunt to the

02:06Pope's funeral and a couple of obligatory summits, was a tour through the Middle East.

02:11First, he landed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, home of Dar al-Arkan, a development firm whose subsidiary

02:17has signed a slew of new deals with Trump across the region, including in Riyadh.

02:23Next, he headed to Doha, Qatar, which will soon welcome a Trump-branded golf community about

02:2825 miles north of the city.

02:30Finally, he flew to Abu Dhabi.

02:34It's all head-spinning for people like Walter Schaub, who led the Office of Government Ethics

02:38in Trump's first term and clashed publicly with the White House over the president's

02:42decision to hang on to his business.

02:45Schaub resigned in 2017.

02:47What Trump is doing today, Schaub says, is far worse than in his first term.

02:52Schaub explains, quote,

02:54With Trump's foreign licensing income up an estimated 650% in 2024, his earlier promise

03:14to do no foreign deals disappeared.

03:17Same with the concerns about working alongside foreign governments.

03:21Since the start of 2025, the Trump Organization appears to have created at least eight new

03:25companies to do business overseas.

03:28The Trump Organization has announced a fresh project almost every month, stomping all over

03:32the president's earlier promises and the U.S. Constitution.

03:37Two weeks ago, the firm that registers companies for the Trump Organization created another two

03:41entities in Delaware, DT Marks Doha LLC and DT Marks Doha Member Court.

03:48It's not clear whether those companies are connected to the already announced

03:51this project in Qatar or an indication of yet another new foreign deal.

03:56So why are so few people paying attention?

03:58In part because there is a lot to scrutinize, including the president's new crypto ventures.

04:04Richard Painter, George W. Bush's former ethics lawyer who worked on the emoluments litigation

04:09in the first Trump administration, but sounds skeptical that the cases will be refiled anytime

04:14soon.

04:15He says, quote, there is burnout on Trump ethics scandals.

04:18It's just one thing after another.

04:22For full coverage, check out Dan Alexander's piece on Forbes.com.

04:28This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:30Thanks for tuning in.

04:56.

04:58.

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