Trump Still Cashing in on Real Estate During Second Term

One year in, Donald Trump’s return to the White House has come with a familiar side hustle: real estate deals that keep churning out cash, even as he occupies the most powerful office in the country.

An accounting pegs the president’s gains from his second term at at least $1.4 billion. Overseas property projects are a meaningful slice of that haul.

The tally comes from an analysis by the New York Times’ editorial board, drawing on reporting from Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets. While $876 million in crypto ventures dominate the dollar figure, the Trump Organization’s bread-and-butter business — licensing the Trump name to towers, hotels and golf courses — remains a steady, though ethically questionable source of income.

Since Trump’s re-election, the family has made at least $23 million from overseas name-licensing deals alone, according to Reuters. More than 20 international projects are in the pipeline, including a hotel in Oman, an office tower in western India and a $1.5 billion golf resort outside Hanoi. Most rely on local partners and, crucially, cooperation from foreign governments on zoning, approvals and infrastructure.

That overlap has drawn scrutiny because some of those same governments have benefited from favorable U.S. policy decisions. In Vietnam, for instance, authorities fast-tracked approvals for the Trump golf project while reportedly sidestepping local laws. Weeks later, the administration eased its posture on threatened tariffs against the country.

For the Trump Organization, the model is familiar and low-risk: license the brand, avoid putting up much capital and collect fees as projects move forward.

The real estate portfolio also gives Trump a durable revenue stream that doesn’t depend on U.S. asset performance or domestic dealmaking, both of which remain pressured by high interest rates and cautious lenders.

Zooming out, the continued growth of Trump-branded projects abroad underscores how intertwined his political power and property business remain. Even as crypto has become the family’s biggest moneymaker, real estate is still doing what it has always done for Trump: turning access, visibility and the allure of his name into cash, one development agreement at a time.

— Holden Walter-Warner