How Trump’s Saudi real estate talks blur the line between business and foreign policy

Donald Trump

Trump Organization executives are in discussions over a possible Trump-branded development inside one of Saudi Arabia’s largest government-owned real estate projects, according to the chief executive leading the site. The talks centre on Diriyah, a vast luxury redevelopment backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and personally overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the New York Times reported.

The potential deal comes as President Donald Trump prepares to host the crown prince in Washington, where the two leaders are expected to discuss a mutual defence agreement and possible nuclear cooperation. That creates an unusual overlap: a foreign leader who is central to a U.S. national security agenda is also a key decision-maker for a private project that could enrich the president’s family business.

What deal is on the table in Diriyah

Diriyah is a multibillion-dollar plan to turn the historic birthplace of the Saudi royal family into a dense cluster of hotels, branded residences, shops and offices. Jerry Inzerillo, the chief executive of the Diriyah development and a longtime Trump associate, said that a Trump-branded project there is “just a matter of time.”

Saudi officials showcased the development to Trump during his state visit in May, walking him through models and construction zones. Inzerillo says they deliberately appealed to Trump’s instincts as a real estate developer and that he was impressed by the scale of the project. Parts of Diriyah have already opened, but most of the site is still under construction.

Any Trump-branded tower, hotel or club in Diriyah would be licensed, not owned outright by the Trump Organization. Such deals typically pay ongoing fees for the right to use the Trump name, without requiring the company to invest its own capital.

How the Trump business has expanded in the Gulf

Diriyah is one of a string of recent Gulf ventures for the Trump family. A Trump tower has been announced in Jeddah, with two more projects in Riyadh. In Dubai, a Trump-branded hotel and tower are moving forward. In Qatar, the Trump Organization has signed a golf course deal with a government-owned real estate firm.

Most of these agreements have been structured and guided by Dar Global, a subsidiary of the Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan. Its chief executive, Ziad El Chaar, has said that more collaborations with Saudi “giga-projects” are on the way. Dar’s London and Riyadh showrooms prominently feature models of yet-to-be-built Trump-branded towers alongside marketing that leans on the family’s image.

Financial disclosures show that Dar paid the Trump Organization tens of millions of dollars in license fees last year. Some of those payments flow directly to the president. The company has also set up shell entities linked to Dubai and Saudi Arabia, signalling that it was preparing for Middle East projects well before the 2024 election.

Where governance and private interests intersect

During Trump’s first term, the Trump Organization promised to stop pursuing new foreign deals. That pledge expired with his return to private life, and in his second term there is no such restriction. The result is a deepening overlap between U.S. diplomacy and family business.

Prince Mohammed, who chairs the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and every major real estate project it owns, has long had close ties to Trump’s circle, particularly Jared Kushner. Those relationships survived intense criticism after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and grew into new business links after Trump left office, including Saudi backing for LIV Golf tournaments at Trump properties and a multibillion-dollar investment into Kushner’s fund.

Now, with talks over a defence pact and nuclear technology on the agenda, the prince is again central to U.S. strategic decisions even as his government entities explore deals with the Trump Organization. In the Gulf, where royal families often control both the state and major companies, such overlaps are common. In the United States, they cut against long-standing expectations that presidents keep a clear distance between public power and private enrichment.

What comes next

Neither the Trump Organization nor the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has publicly confirmed a signed Diriyah contract. Real estate negotiations can take years, and not every conversation produces a project. Still, comments from both Diriyah’s chief executive and the Trump family’s main foreign partner suggest that some form of collaboration is likely.

For Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the Gulf is already a central focus. They have called the region “every developer’s biggest playground” and have repeatedly visited Saudi Arabia for investment forums and project launches. In their own telling, it is hard to separate their business ambitions from the family’s long-standing identity as developers.

That is precisely what worries critics. As Trump deepens his political and security relationship with Saudi Arabia, any new Trump-branded project on Saudi state land risks being seen as a private reward tied to public decisions. Even if the deals technically follow the law, they push American norms on conflicts of interest into territory that is far less familiar at home than it is in Riyadh.