[By Guancha Observer Network, Shao Yun] As US President Donald Trump is about to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, the close business ties between his family and these three Middle Eastern countries have sparked discussions in the media.
The Wall Street Journal reported on May 12 that in recent months, Trump family-affiliated enterprises have announced numerous cooperation projects with Gulf countries, ranging from real estate development, cryptocurrency trading to financial investment. The US media expressed concern that this "blurs the line between private enterprise and public policy." Experts believe that what the Middle Eastern countries are looking at is not just commercial returns but also the political influence they can leverage through the Trump family.
The report pointed out that over the past year, Dar Al Arkan, the largest listed real estate developer in Saudi Arabia, has reached multiple real estate project collaborations with Dar Global, a subsidiary of its international division, including building two new Trump Towers in Dubai and Jeddah, a golf resort project under a Qatari government project, as well as a hotel and golf integrated resort in Oman.
Among them, the golf resort project in Qatar is also the first real estate project of the Trump brand in Qatar. This project is part of the tourism development plan for the East Coast town of Simaisma being carried out by the Qatari government. On April 30 local time, Trump's second son Eric and Abdullah, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Chairman of Qatari Diar, jointly attended the project launch ceremony.
According to Eric, more cooperation projects with Middle Eastern countries are being planned. He said that the Trump Group plans to build a new building in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and may also develop new projects in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.
On April 30, 2025, Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and second son of Trump, reviewed the agreement signed with Qatari Diar and Dar Global in Doha. Visual China
Although Qatari officials stated that relevant cooperation was reached before Trump was elected, The Wall Street Journal believed that this "open entanglement of geopolitics and personal interests" broke the long-standing norms of the United States and "blurred the line between private enterprise and public policy."
After Trump was first elected president in 2016, the Trump Group has been managed by his two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric. Although Trump himself no longer serves as a company executive, he still retains shares through a trust. US media reported that during Trump's first term, the Trump Group promised not to conduct business with foreign governments or foreign companies, but by his second term, this promise had shrunk to only "not directly transacting with foreign governments."
The Wall Street Journal statistics showed that so far, sovereign funds or royal funds from these three countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar—have injected a total of over $3.5 billion into Jared Kushner's private equity fund, which Trump's son-in-law and former advisor manages. Among them, $2 billion came from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), and $1.5 billion came from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the UAE asset management company Lunate.
On March 4, 2025, Washington DC, the US House of Representatives, Ivanka Trump, Trump's daughter, and Jared Kushner, her son-in-law, waited for Trump's speech at the joint session. Visual China
Last week, at a cryptocurrency conference held in Dubai, Eric and Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump's Middle East envoy, announced that the MGX fund, which has ties to the UAE royal family, would invest $2 billion in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance using USD1, a cryptocurrency developed by their company.
Eric and Zach co-founded the cryptocurrency company "World Liberty Financial" last year and launched USD1, a dollar-backed stablecoin, in March this year. It is pegged to the US dollar at a ratio of 1:1. It is known that DT Marks DeFi LLC, a company controlled by the Trump family, owns 60% of the equity in "World Liberty Financial."
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that as long as these stablecoins remain in circulation, "World Liberty Financial" could potentially earn tens of millions of dollars annually because the companies issuing stablecoins typically invest the users' purchased dollars in Treasury bonds or other investments to gain interest, while holders of the coins usually receive no return. According to the issuance documents, the companies associated with Trump can obtain 75% of the net income of "World Liberty Financial."
David Schenker, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) and former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs during Trump's first term, bluntly said, "In some ways, national interests seem to have merged with those of the president." Schenker called it an unprecedented and different way of operating for the United States.
An interesting twist occurred when, on the evening of May 11 local time, Trump confirmed on his self-created social platform, Truth Social, that the Qatari royal family would gift the United States a Boeing 747-8 aircraft to be temporarily used as Air Force One.
Currently, the "Air Force One" fleet of the US president mainly consists of two old Boeing 747-200 aircraft, which have been in service since 1990. The contract for replacing these aircraft with new ones has been repeatedly delayed and exceeded budget. Boeing estimated last year that delivery would not occur until 2029, by which time Trump would no longer be president. Trump expressed extreme dissatisfaction with this and clearly stated that he hoped to have new planes available this year.
According to Trump, this deal was "very transparent." The US National Broadcasting Company (ABC) disclosed that to avoid violating relevant provisions of the US Constitution and the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits gifts from foreign states, the White House carefully studied the legal terms and concluded that the US Department of Defense could legally accept the aircraft as a gift and then transfer it to the Trump Library Foundation.
Trump's post on Truth Social screenshot
US media noted that these monarchies in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are generally considered to be more tolerant of the fusion of politics and business. Agence France-Presse cited expert analysis on May 11 saying that reaching deals with the Trump family and its associates has become a "strategic consideration" for Gulf countries.
"The Gulf countries may think that introducing the 'Trump brand' in their countries is a way to establish good relations with the new administration," said Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Washington Institute for Arab Gulf States Research.
Hasan Alhasan, a senior research fellow on Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), analyzed that from the perspective of the Gulf countries, compared to the "old path" of purchasing American weapons to gain influence, reaching commercial transactions with the Trump family is a better solution.
"For decades, large-scale arms purchases by Gulf countries have brought substantial profits to American defense companies, whose political action committees (PACs) are major donors in American elections. Now, catering to the business interests of the Trump family may be seen as a shorter and more effective path to achieving the same goal - gaining political influence," Alhasan said.
He said that in return, the Gulf countries hope to obtain American weapons, security guarantees, and advanced technologies, especially in artificial intelligence (AI).
However, this "deal" has sparked criticism in the United States. Democrats accused Trump of "bare-faced corruption." After Trump accepted the "gift plane" from Qatar, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer mocked on social media: "There is nothing that better represents 'America First' than 'Air Force One sponsored by Qatar.' This is not just bribery, but foreign influence with more legroom."
In response, White House press secretary Levitt responded on the 9th, calling the accusation that Trump "abused power" "absurd." She said that Trump "fully complies with all laws regarding conflicts of interest." "For many years, he has maintained high transparency regarding his financial obligations. He is a successful businessman, and frankly, I think this is also one of the important reasons why he could be re-elected president."
It should be noted that this is not the first time Trump has faced similar accusations. After Trump signed the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" executive order in April, he suddenly announced a partial suspension of the policy, causing US stocks to rebound after a prolonged plunge. Just four hours before announcing the policy change, Trump posted on Truth Social in uppercase letters: "This is a great time to buy!!! DJT."
According to AP reports, although Trump sometimes emphasized in his posts that they were written personally by him using his full name's English initials, DJT also represents the stock of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. The stock price closed up 22.67% on April 9, approximately twice the rise of the broader market. Trump holds 53% of the company's shares, meaning his wealth increased by $415 million that day.
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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7503573545663660563/
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