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President Trump is heading to the Middle East tonight. He's promised to make multibillion-dollar deals that benefit the U.S. and help it reassert its regional role. NPR's Aya Batrawy reports from Riyadh on how Trump will lean into his personal ties, too.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Few places in the world exemplify new money aesthetic and luxury quite like the Arab Gulf. Think towering skyscrapers with infinity pools and luxury interiors. The market's crowded with designer hotels and residences, and that includes Trump-branded real estate projects popping up.
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BATRAWY: I stopped by DarGlobal's office in Riyadh. That's the private Saudi developer behind the newest Trump projects in the region. There's a mock-up of a 47-story Trump tower coming up in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: By Trump clubhouse.
BATRAWY: Trump clubhouse - how many apartments is it?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Around 450.
BATRAWY: Four hundred and fifty. OK.
DarGlobal's also developing a sprawling Trump golf course and residential community in Oman. And only weeks ago, The Trump Organization launched two more projects with the company - a Trump golf course community in Doha, Qatar, and a hotel tower in Dubai where penthouses are priced at $20 million. Here's Eric Trump, the president's son who runs the family business, in a video from DarGlobal at the launch of the hotel tower project in Dubai.
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ERIC TRUMP: On behalf of myself, on behalf of my family, we love Dubai. We have such a great relationship between the United States and just one of the greatest places.
BATRAWY: It's not just love and friends that draw the Trump family to the Gulf. There's big-dollar investments fueled by the region's oil wealth, and this confluence of personal ties, business interests and Trump's role as president of the United States converge on this trip, where he'll meet with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. While president, Trump's investments and assets are in a trust managed by his children. But Mamoun Fandy, director of the London Global Strategy Institute think tank, says these family business deals compromise the image of the office he holds.
MAMOUN FANDY: In the past, the presidency used to cost the president his financial wellbeing, if you will - that most people have to declare their assets and make sure they are separated from his office. Now everything is conflated.
BATRAWY: Since his first term in office, money from the Gulf has flowed into the Trump family's orbit. His son-in-law Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund overseen by the Saudi crown prince. It helped Kushner launch his private equity fund just months after leaving the White House, where he was adviser to Trump in his first term. The White House says Trump isn't making money off being president. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters it's ridiculous to even suggest it.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service, not just once but twice.
BATRAWY: Just before heading to the Gulf, Trump was asked by reporters about being offered a new presidential luxury Boeing plane from Qatar to replace one of the aging Air Force One jets.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, no, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane.
BATRAWY: Meanwhile, money from the Gulf keeps coming. The latest deal included the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture called World Liberty Financial. It's cofounded by Zach Witkoff, whose father is Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Mid East. Just days ago, an Abu Dhabi firm used World Liberty's stablecoin to close a $2 billion investment into crypto exchange Binance. So what exactly do Gulf Arab states gain from these investments? Fandy of the London Global Strategy Institute says it's part of a bigger calculus to establish close links with a sitting U.S. president.
FANDY: It works for them as a security umbrella. It's a high premium but still a security insurance policy.
BATRAWY: And for Saudi Arabia, a heavyweight in the region and a major oil producer, having Trump choose to come here first for his first official trip again as president cements their regional clout. And that, Fandy says, is priceless. Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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