Trump’s licensing business gets an influx of money from the Middle East

D.Developers around the world once paid Donald Trump to use their name on their projects. But politics changed the Trump brand, and his name came off buildings in Toronto, Vancouver, Panama, New York City, and Washington, D.C. After the presidency, his brand still has cachet in at least one part of the world: the Middle. East.

The former president received $5.35 million in licensing fees for a golf project in Oman, according to a federal document that requires candidates to list their income as of early 2022. He disclosed another $1.5 million in licensing fees. of a project in the United Arab Emirates. . Two projects bringing in $6.9 million may not seem like a lot to a guy worth an estimate. $2.5 billion, but it meant a lot to Trump’s licensing business, which comprises a small portion of his fortune. In 2021, Trump reported less than $5 million of license income in his financial disclosure report.

The Oman project is part of a partnership between the Oman government and a Saudi developer. Although Trump had previously acknowledged the deal, the precise amount of money involved was not made clear until the new filing was made public on Thursday.

The company in the United Arab Emirates predates the Trump presidency, but he had not disclosed license income in recent years. His partner there is Hussain Sajwani, a flamboyant billionaire who continued to talk business with Trump after his 2016 election and attended his inauguration. “Over the weekend, I was offered $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai with a very, very, very incredible man, a great developer from the Middle East: Hussain Damac,” Trump said at a January press conference. 2017. apparently referring to Sajwani, whose company is called Damac Properties. “A friend of mine. Great guy. And they offered me $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai, a series of deals, and I turned it down.”

Soon after, Sajwani explained why people in the Middle East might find Trump’s name appealing, despite Trump controversially targeting seven Muslim countries with a travel ban shortly into his term as president. “For people who play golf, they understand that Trump offers golf courses of the highest quality,” he said. developer said.

Some of Trump’s oldest deals are still making money for the former president. A licensing deal in Mumbai provided $1.7 million, according to the disclosure, and one in Delhi brought in $1.1 million. Projects in Istanbul, Turkey and Sunny Isles, Florida each provided another $1 million.

Trump also got a surprising boost from a property in Hawaii, where he has had a long-standing licensing deal. In previous financial disclosure reports, he had listed between $100,000 and $1 million in royalty income through a company related to that project called Trump Marks Waikiki LLC. But in his most recent filing, Trump said that he received license income of $13 million through that entity. It is not clear what could have caused such a windfall.

In total, Trump reported $26 million in license income in his latest disclosure. Representatives for the former president and his associates in Hawaii, the United Arab Emirates and Oman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.