The Dar Global pipeline: a Saudi developer builds Trump towers across the Gulf

Dar Global, the London-listed international arm of the Riyadh mega-developer Dar Al Arkan, has become the family's primary Gulf franchising partner, rolling out a chain of Trump-branded projects since the 2024 election: the $533 million Trump Tower Jeddah (sales launched December 2024), the $1 billion Trump Plaza Jeddah (announced September 29, 2025), plus Trump towers and golf in Dubai, Riyadh, Qatar and Oman. The family's own site touts the projects; Dar Global's CEO Ziad El Chaar has urged investors to 'don't stop believing in the Trump brand.'

The financial link is concrete and disclosed: Trump licensing deals via Dar Global brought the family business $21.9 million in 2024 alone, and Dar Global's parent has publicly 'committed to advancing Crown Prince MBS's plan to modernize Saudi Arabia's economy' - tying the family's licensor to the Saudi state's flagship program. Much of the expansion, CNN found, was 'supercharged' after the electoral win.

The deals cluster around Trump's May 2025 Gulf trip - his first foreign tour of the term - which produced trillions in announced US-Gulf business even as his family's own Gulf income multiplied. Because Dar Global is nominally a private developer (not a foreign government), the arrangement technically stays inside the second-term ethics plan's loosened line (FOR-01), while routing Saudi-origin capital to the family through a single prolific partner.

Documented

Legal but conflicted

$25.8M in 2025 licensing income from Dar Al Arkan and Dar Global; $21.9M from Dar Al Arkan in 2024 (pre-term); $533M Trump Tower Jeddah; $1B Trump Plaza Jeddah; Dar Global's Trump-inclusive pipeline ~$7.5B

Trump Tower Jeddah launched 2024-12; Trump Plaza Jeddah announced 2025-09-29; Riyadh, Dubai, Qatar, Oman ongoing