Foreign licensing income in 2025
- Status
- Disclosed income
- Type
- Review · Aug 10, 2026
- Counterparty
- Developers in the UAE (Damac and others), India, Saudi Arabia (Dar Global), Qatar and Oman
- Amount
- $59.5 million in 2025, up 71 percent from 2024, per CNBC’s analysis of the disclosure (Forbes put it at $61 million, up an estimated 30 percent)
- People
- Donald Trump · Eric Trump
WHO PAID, WHO GOT WHAT
Per the president’s disclosure as analyzed by CNBC: $23 million from the UAE (through deals with two developers, per Forbes), $10 million from India, $9 million from Saudi Arabia and $5 million from Qatar. Forbes calculated the foreign licensing business grew about 900 percent as Trump returned to power; CREW counts 23 Trump-branded foreign projects in development during the presidency.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
Licensing fees are paid to Trump-owned entities for the use of the name. Per CNBC, the Trump Organization signed its Qatar and Oman licensing agreements with private developers rather than directly with foreign governments, but both projects rely on state-controlled land, investment or partners.
RESPONSE
The Trump Organization told CNBC it operates “completely separate from the presidency,” complies with ethics and conflict-of-interest laws and uses an outside ethics adviser. It did not respond to CNBC’s questions about specific projects or to Forbes’s questions. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Forbes, “There are no conflicts of interest.”
Correction. An earlier version gave foreign licensing income as $59.5 million in 2025, up 71 percent from 2024, without noting that published figures differ. That is CNBC’s analysis of the disclosure; Forbes put the total at $61 million, up an estimated 30 percent. Corrected September 18, 2026. Note added September 23, 2026.
SOURCES
- CNBC: Trump’s foreign licensing business booms to $59.5 million as Gulf developers pay ↗
- Forbes: Trump’s foreign licensing business grew 900% as he returned to power ↗
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: Twenty-three Trump-branded real estate projects will be developed in foreign countries during Trump’s presidency ↗
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