00:00Today on Forbes, this Gulf nation is powering Trump's money-making machine.
00:06On January 11th, 2017, nine days before he became president the first time,
00:12Donald Trump revealed how he planned to handle his multi-billion dollar business
00:16while in the White House. He would not sell his assets, nor would he give them to his heirs,
00:22nor create a blind trust, nor empower an independent executive.
00:26But there was one line he promised to never cross. There would be no new foreign business deals.
00:33Eight years later, the United Arab Emirates, home to the metropolises of Dubai and Abu Dhabi,
00:39has become a hub for the Trump Organization's international expansion.
00:43With first sons Don Jr. and Eric serving as emissaries, the president and his family
00:49have entered into at least nine agreements with ties to the Gulf nation,
00:53some involving government entities in the country, many stemming from business relationships developed
00:58there. Together, the ventures, which include five licensing agreements and three cryptocurrency
01:04deals, will provide an estimated $500 million in 2025, and about $50 million annually for years
01:12into the future. More business is coming. The Trump family has been working on a yet-to-be-announced
01:18project in Abu Dhabi, which new filings suggest could be in the city's Al-Raha Beach neighborhood.
01:24Even more intriguing, the president's offspring are plotting novel ways to use cryptomania
01:29to squeeze more money from their real estate assets.
01:33Eric Trump, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization,
01:37can't stop praising the country. He told a room full of people in Abu Dhabi last year,
01:42The UAE is the developer's greatest dream because they never say no to anything. In fact,
01:48they always tell you to kind of push the limits. And there's no place that has grown faster.
01:53There's no place that has been more fun to work in than the UAE. I mean, if you want to build it,
01:58if you can dream it up, they allow you to do it.
02:02Apparently, that's true. But certainly, if your last name is Trump.
02:06A former diplomat with experience in the region says, quote,
02:11Gulf leaders know how to deal with this American president. They learned it the first time around,
02:16but he was himself constrained in how blatantly he could solicit money. He's unconstrained now.
02:23America's most famous real estate clan first entered the Middle East about 20 years ago,
02:28starting in, where else, the United Arab Emirates. At the time, Dubai was on a spending spree,
02:34which included constructing islands in the sea, just off its downtown, in the shape of the world map
02:39and a palm tree. To sell such projects, leaders of a government-affiliated firm named Nakheel
02:46had a luncheon in 2004 at the 21 Club in New York, with 75 potential investors, Donald Trump among them.
02:54By 2008, Trump had a licensing deal with Nakheel, helmed by Sultan Ahmed bin Suleyem,
03:00a well-connected businessman whose relationships in the United States included Jeffrey Epstein.
03:06The timing in 2008, however, proved to be terrible. The financial crisis crushed Dubai's real estate market,
03:13and Trump's partner reportedly called off the deal in 2011.
03:17That same year, however, a developer named Hussein Sajwani started working on a 42 million square foot project
03:24outside of Dubai called Damak Hills. One of Sajwani's deputies, Ziyad El-Char,
03:30connected with the Trump family and put together a licensing deal for a golf club.
03:35Sure enough, two and a half years later, Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
03:41Sajwani, El-Char's boss, celebrated the occasion inside Washington, D.C.'s Trump International Hotel.
03:46First sons Eric and Don Jr. showed up in Dubai for the official opening of the Trump International Golf Club a month later.
03:55On January 7, 2025, 13 days before Trump reclaimed the White House,
04:00the president-elect welcomed Sajwani to Mar-a-Lago.
04:04The Emirati developer, whose companies pay the president an estimated $6 million a year in licensing and management fees,
04:10announced a plan to invest $20 billion to expand his data center business into the United States.
04:19In the new Trump era, real estate licensing, international diplomacy, crypto ventures, and meme stock trading
04:25blend together in a melange of deal-making, with the first family emerging billions of dollars richer.
04:32None of it needs to involve explicit quid pro quos.
04:35Business relationships lead to personal relationships that impact policy discussions.
04:39This is the way high-powered people have operated in the Gulf region for decades.
04:44What's new is that an American president has placed himself at the center of the web.
04:50For full coverage, check out Dan Alexander's piece on Forbes.com.
04:56This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:58Thanks for tuning in.
05:09Going to be right back.
05:18This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.com.
05:22I'm waiting for you.
05:24Good morning.
05:24You've beenند.
05:30imperial pecansiy on Forbes.com.
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