Last updated: August 18, 2026. This page supplements the Abuse of Power page.
| Date | Administration Action | Why is this Unethical? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–2026 | The Trump Organization’s foreign business exploded during the presidency: watchdogs count 24 Trump-branded projects under development abroad, including roughly $10 billion in projects with a Saudi developer, groundbreakings in Vietnam, and a new Dubai tower. | These are direct financial pipelines from foreign governments and government-linked developers to the sitting president while he sets policy toward those countries — the core concern of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Forbes found foreign licensing revenue grew roughly 900% since Trump returned to power, generating $61 million in 2026 alone (UAE $23M, India $10M, Saudi Arabia $9M, Qatar, Romania, and Vietnam $5M each). | In April 2026, House Judiciary members filed resolutions demanding compliance with both Emoluments Clauses, citing these deals; standing obstacles have kept the merits out of court. |
| July 2026 | His 2025 personal financial disclosure, released in July 2026, reported more than $117 million in revenue from overseas business interests during his first year back in office — nearly as much in a single year as the roughly $149 million his businesses took in from abroad across his entire first term. Foreign revenue had been about $44 million in 2023. | A sitting president collecting escalating payments from foreign sources puts his private financial interest in conflict with the national interest, and invites foreign governments and businesses to buy influence through his companies. Licensing and development fees alone grew from just over $5 million in 2023 to $59 million in 2025. | He reported 28 separate accounts with at least $50,000 in revenue each, compared with nine in the last year of his first term, a substantial expansion of the conflicts. |
| May 2025 | The Trump family’s business announced that a fund backed by the United Arab Emirates would be investing $2 billion in the president’s cryptocurrency. The announcement was made by a founder of the Trump family crypto business who is also the son of the U.S. envoy to the Middle East. | This raises a litany of conflicts of interest, including regarding how the president regulates cryptocurrency and whether these ventures shape his foreign policy. A Senate resolution formally states the deal “is a violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause”, since Congress never consented. | The deal was consummated: the Emirati fund used $2 billion of the family’s stablecoin to buy a stake in Binance — whose founder the president then pardoned — and reporting links the arrangement to the administration’s approval of advanced-chip sales to the UAE. |
| April 2025 | President Trump’s company signed a deal to build a golf course in Qatar with a Saudi Arabian company and one owned by the Qatari government. | This deal, in addition to his other global business holdings, raises questions about his ability to separate U.S. foreign policy from his own financial interests. | Qatar’s royal family also gave the president a $400 million jet destined for his presidential library (see the Abuse of Power page). |