There will be a ‘very large wall’ between Trump Org and US government, Eric Trump says

Abu Dhabi — The Trump Organization, Donald Trump’s family business, will have a “very large wall” separating its business activity from the US government, the president-elect’s son, Eric Trump, said in an interview with Reuters in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

The bulk of the Trump Organization’s business is in the US, though it has significant interests overseas, including in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

During his first term, Donald Trump retained ownership of the Trump Organization but placed control of the sprawling business empire in the hands of his sons Eric and Donald Jn.

“There’s going to be, obviously, a very large wall between anything having to do with our company and anything to do with government,” Eric Trump told Reuters at a bitcoin conference.

“I take those obligations very seriously. I navigated it the first time, I’ll do so the second time and, you know, I’ll be ethically very smart, very responsible, as we did,” he said.

The Trump Organization has a number of branded international projects under development including in Jeddah and Dubai, and announced new ones in the Saudi capital on Monday.

Eric Trump said the Trump Organization would continue to grow over the next four years when Donald Trump is in office, but that it was unlikely to do deals directly with governments, adding: “I think that probably is a conflict.”

He said the “best legal teams in the world” would sign off on the company's deals to avoid conflicts of interest.

“There’s a way to do both, and there’s a way to do them responsibly. And obviously, I’m committed to doing that.”

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and the other Gulf Arab states are important security partners of the US. Many host American soldiers, while their governments are big foreign investors.

But the perception of American strength and leadership in the region has waned over the past decade, including during Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Eric said the US’s regional partners could expect “peace, stability and safety” from his father’s second term.

“He’s got a great relationship with so many leaders in the region. They know he was always a man of his word. They know if he said something, he would actually do it,” he said.

“We saw four incredible years of prosperity and safety, followed by four years under the last administration of absolute hell and chaos, and people are already starting to see the pendulum go back, and it’s going to go back very quickly.”

Reuters