How the presidency became Trump’s most profitable brand yet

Since his reelection last year, Donald Trump’s family has embarked on a vast international expansion of their business empire. According to a detailed investigation by The Guardian, the projects span from high-end real estate to cryptocurrency ventures across nations as diverse as Vietnam, former Yugoslav states and Gulf monarchies.

At the heart of this blitz are Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. They have overseen new golf courses, skyscraper projects and licensing deals under the Trump brand worldwide. The family insists there is a strict separation between the presidency and their private business. “Nothing I do has anything to do with the White House,” Eric said in a recent interview.

Despite such assurances, critics believe the overlap between politics and profit is too obvious to ignore. “Trump has made authoritarians’ wildest dreams come true,” a senior anti-corruption official told the Guardian, summing up widespread concern about a growing “pay-to-play” system tied to presidential influence.

Deals, dollars, and diplomatic pressure

One striking example is a $1.5-billion golf resort project in Vietnam.

The development reportedly won expedited approval in just three months — a process that usually takes several years. Local documents revealed the project had “personal attention” from the Trump administration. Meanwhile, villagers near Hanoi, who stand to lose farmland, were offered minimal compensation.

Just months before that deal, US trade tariffs against Vietnam were sharply reduced, fuelling speculation that business leverage may have influenced diplomatic decisions. “You scratch my back, I scratch yours,” observed one foreign-policy analyst, who spoke to the Guardian.

At the same time, the Trump-backed crypto enterprise World Liberty Financial has generated extraordinary returns. Financial filings show the family’s income soared nearly 17 times over the past year, from about $51 million to $864 million. More than 90 percent of that came from crypto rather than real estate, according to publicly available data.

The family’s growing web of deals with foreign governments, particularly across the Gulf, has set off alarms among ethics watchdogs who say it is eroding US democratic norms and weakening global anti-corruption guardrails.

Transparency questions, ethics concerns

To date, no clear evidence has emerged proving an explicit quid pro quo between foreign actors and Trump’s business interests. Yet the confluence of new projects, favourable regulatory outcomes and diplomatic realignments have created the appearance of conflicts of interest, a situation experts warn is “dangerous for global governance”.

White House officials have dismissed these concerns. A spokesperson called the allegations “irresponsible” and said neither the president nor his family has engaged in improper behaviour.

As global criticism mounts, the debate over whether a presidency should ever be permitted to morph into a business empire is intensifying.