Trump’s Licensing Business Receives Influx Of Middle East Money

Developers from around the globe once paid Donald Trump to use his name for 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. Post-presidency, his trademark still has cachet in at least one part of the world: the Middle East.

The former president received $5.35 million of licensing fees for a golf project in Oman, according to a federal filing that requires candidates to list their income since the start of 2022. He disclosed another $1.5 million in licensing fees from a project in the United Arab Emirates. Two projects generating $6.9 million may not sound like much for a guy worth an estimated $2.5 billion, but it meant a lot to Trump’s licensing business, which comprises a small slice of his fortune. In 2021, Trump reported less than $5 million of licensing income on his financial disclosure report.

The Oman project is part of a partnership between that country’s government and a Saudi developer. Although Trump had previously acknowledged the deal, the precise amount of money involved remained unclear until the new filing became public on Thursday.

The venture in the United Arab Emirates predated Trump’s presidency, but he had not disclosed licensing income from it in recent years. His partner there is Hussain Sajwani, a flamboyant billionaire who continued talking 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 amazing man, a great, great developer from the Middle East—Hussain Damac,” Trump said at a press conference in January 2017, apparently referring to Sajwani, whose company is named Damac Properties. “A friend of mine. Great guy. And I was offered $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai—a number of deals, and I turned it down.”

Shortly thereafter, Sajwani explained why people in the Middle East might find the Trump name appealing, even though Trump controversially targeted seven Muslim countries with a travel ban shortly into his tenure as president. “For the people who play golf, they understand that Trump delivers the highest quality of golf courses,” the developer said.

Some of Trump’s older deals continue to spit out money for the former president. A licensing agreement in Mumbai provided $1.7 million, according to the disclosure, and one in Delhi generated $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 long had a licensing deal. On previous financial disclosure reports, he had listed $100,000 to $1 million of royalty income through a company connected with that project named Trump Marks Waikiki LLC. But in his most recent filing, Trump said he received licensing income of $13 million via that entity. It’s unclear what might have prompted such a windfall.

In all, Trump reported $26 million of licensing income on his latest disclosure. Representatives for the former president and his partners in Hawaii, the United Arab Emirates and Oman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.