RIYADH, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Trump Organization plans
to build a Trump Tower in the Saudi capital Riyadh as part of a
real estate expansion in the region including in the Emirati
capital Abu Dhabi, Eric Trump, the U.S. president-elect's son
told Reuters on Thursday.
Outlining two new projects in Riyadh in partnership with
Dubai-based luxury developer Dar Global, The Trump
Organization executive vice president declined to give details.
"What I'll tell you is one of them will definitely be a
tower," Trump said in an interview, adding that his company
plans to further expand its partnership with Dar Global across
the Gulf region including a new project in Abu Dhabi.
"We'll probably be in Abu Dhabi in the next year or so,"
Trump said, a day after the two companies unveiled plans for a
glittering gold Trump Tower in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.
London-listed Dar Global's chief executive said the other
new joint project planned in Riyadh is a Trump Golf community
similar to one launched in Oman in 2022.
"We're hoping to do one tower and one golf community," Ziad
El Chaar told Reuters in an interview.
Dar Global, the international arm of Saudi Arabia's Dar Al
Arkan Real Estate Development Company, has agreed a
number of deals with The Trump Organization, including plans for
Trump towers in Jeddah and Dubai, along with the Oman project.
The two organizations did not indicate the value of the
projects, but El Chaar compared the value to the $530 million
Trump Tower in Jeddah and the Trump Golf community in Oman,
which he said cost around $2.66 billion.
Donald Trump fostered close ties with Gulf states during his
first term, including Saudi Arabia, which has invested $2
billion in a firm belonging to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law
and former aide, incorporated after Trump left office.
Other close Trump allies also maintained close business ties
in the Gulf since he left office in 2021.
When Trump first took office in 2017, he retained ownership
of the Trump Organization but placed control of the sprawling
business empire in the hands of his sons Eric and Donald Jr.,
breaking with U.S. precedent by not divesting his businesses or
putting them into a blind trust.
This raised conflict of interest concerns and Democratic
congressional investigators later found that businesses tied to
the president received at least $7.8 million in foreign payments
from 20 countries during his four years in the White House.
"I have no interaction with Washington, D.C. I want no
interaction with Washington, D.C." Eric Trump said in response
to a question on potential conflicts of interest, adding they
would follow the same practices as during Trump's first term.
"I think we are going to navigate that very smartly, very
well, no different than we did in 2016," he said.
His father's position meant that The Trump Organization
would avoid opening up businesses with countries involved in
active conflicts such as Russia, Ukraine and Israel, or where
the U.S. is considering imposing heavy tariffs like China.
"We could have done two of the biggest buildings in
Israel," Eric Trump said, adding: "They were slated to be done
and then obviously October 7 came around, you couldn't do it.
You just have to be sensitive to what was happening."
($1 = 3.7573 riyals)