The Associated Press reported on April 13, 2026, that the Trump family's business, led by Eric Trump and his brother Donald Jr., “is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding a century ago, each deal potentially shaping everything from tariffs to military aid.”
In Trump's first term, the Trump Organization did zero deals in foreign countries; in a little over a year into his second term it did eight. In Qatar, a Trump golf club and villa project is being developed in part by a company owned by the Qatari government; Qatari Diar announced its agreement with Dar Global for the Trump International Golf Club Simaisma in May 2025. In Vietnam, where The New York Times reported the government pushed farmers off their land for a Trump resort, the deputy prime minister signed off on the deal. In Saudi Arabia, a planned “Trump Plaza” resort is being built by a developer close to the ruling family. The Trump Organization said it has done no deals with governments.
Whether the deals changed U.S. policy is, AP wrote, “nearly impossible to know but the countries did get what they wanted – access to advanced U.S. technology for Qatar, tariff relief for Vietnam and fighter jets for Saudi Arabia.”
The brothers also took stakes in an armed drone maker seeking contracts with the Pentagon and Gulf states. They invested in Powerus, a drone startup, through a proposed reverse merger with a golf course company they partly own, and the U.S. Air Force later placed a “limited” order for its interceptor drones, MS NOW reported. “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in,” Eric said. Days before the inauguration, the family sold nearly half of its World Liberty Financial crypto business to a UAE government-linked company run by a member of the UAE royal family for $500 million. The deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal; CNN, citing the Journal, said $187 million went to Trump family entities.
“I don't think there's any line right now between policy decisions and political calculations and the interest of the Trump family,” said Princeton presidential historian Julian Zelizer. Asked about the ethics questions, Donald Jr. said, “Frankly, it's gotten old.”
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry previously put in quotation marks a shortened paraphrase of historian Julian Zelizer (“No line between policy decisions and the interest of the Trump family”); his full quote is now given verbatim. It also stated as fact that Vietnam pushed farmers off their land, which AP attributes to New York Times reporting; that attribution has been added. The title, which quoted AP's headline inexactly, and an inexact quotation of AP's “nearly impossible to know” passage have been corrected.