What happens to Trump’s business If he wins? Eric Trump has thoughts

NEW YORK—Twenty-five stories above Fifth Avenue in his sun-streaked corner office, Eric Trump talks about dazzling hotels and golf resorts in Oman and Indonesia, and a freshly signed development deal in Vietnam. Plans for Israel are on hold, given the war in Gaza, but “we’re going into Israel in a big way in the future.”

What happens if his father returns to the White House? “It’s too early to tell,” said the second-born son of Donald Trump who helms the Trump Organization. Still, by steering the family into crypto and establishing ties with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, he is forging an expansionary path. Those efforts could cement his own place in the business world while also reviving concerns over potential conflicts of interest in a second Trump administration.

“Should I stop all expansion? I don’t know what the answer is. I tried to do everything right in 2016 and I got very little credit for it,” he said of efforts to distance the newly elected president from the company. “We still kind of got stomped on.”

If older brother Donald Trump Jr. has become the crown prince of MAGA world, then 40-year-old Eric Trump is guardian of the family business empire.

Less fire-breathing partisan than his brother and not as recognized as his sister, Ivanka, Eric nonetheless might play the lead role in carrying the family business into a new era. Donald Trump, 78, still owns most Trump Organization assets and still gets involved in major decisions, but since the 2016 election, Eric has been running the show.

His father, if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris, will be walled off from the company, Eric Trump said. But the scrutiny might only grow. Unlike the last time Trump was running for president, he now has a stake in his Truth Social platform valued at $4 billion, and he has promoted the crypto company Eric helped launch with Don Jr., World Liberty Financial.

“It was Pandora’s box before, but now it’s a heck of a lot bigger,” said Richard Painter, who was the White House’s chief ethics lawyer during the administration of George W. Bush and who helped bring legal cases arguing that Trump had illegally profited. “I think we have a great risk of corruption.”

With slicked-back hair and a business suit, Eric Trump resembles a younger version of “DJT,” as he refers to his dad, though he has a close-cropped beard and instead of Diet Coke favors unsweetened Pure Leaf ice tea. He’s accustomed to the criticism that he’s in his position because of nepotism. He’s previously called it a “factor of life” and insisted he’s proven himself. And he’s endured the caricature presented by late-night TV hosts, such as Stephen Colbert calling him the “dullest knife in the Republican drawer.”

Eric says he’s right where he’s supposed to be. “I’m probably the most trusted guy in the man’s life,” he said, “hence the reason I’m behind this desk.” Still, he has joined his father on the campaign trail and works with his brother on their dad’s transition effort, looking for loyalists to join a potential new administration.

During a campaign rally earlier this month, Donald Trump observed his son has been served with dozens of subpoenas related to investigations into the Trump empire and handled it all “beautifully.” There were so many—111 by Eric Trump’s count—that Eric tracked them with a spreadsheet. The rally in Butler, Pa., came three months after the assassination attempt on the former president.

“They came after us. They impeached him twice, and then, guys, they tried to kill him,” Eric Trump told the crowd of tens of thousands. “They tried to kill him, and it’s because of the Democratic Party.” The comments were swiftly condemned by Democrats, and the FBI hasn’t established a motive.

“I don’t back down from them at all,” Eric Trump said of his comments at the rally. From his office at Trump Tower in Manhattan, he noted that Biden a few days before the Butler assassination attempt told donors it was “time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye,” a remark the president later said he regretted and didn’t mean in a literal sense.

Eric Trump says the Secret Service made mistakes but, like his father, he praised the agents who jumped on stage. A female agent who wrapped her arms around the former president had previously been assigned to Eric Trump. “She would take a bullet for him or me,” he said.

His office contains mementos of the past and present. One photo shows a young boy on a construction crane. On the floor, a fancy box held ceremonial-ribbon-cutting scissors. Tacked to the wall are dollar bills signed by his father—collections from various bets they have made.

Growing up, he spent summers working on his father’s job sites, rode in helicopters and met stars such as Michael Jackson and Hulk Hogan.

But he becomes tense when speaking of the pressure the family has faced since his father entered the political arena, such as a series of probes that Trump dismissed as partisan witch hunts. “They’ve put us through hell,” Eric Trump said of investigators.

He is particularly irked by criticism over profits made at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Trump said the family returned to the U.S. Treasury profits derived from foreign government officials. Critics sued, contending the operation violated the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which prohibit the president from receiving things of value from foreign and state governments. The Supreme Court ruled the case moot after Trump was defeated in 2020. In 2022, the Trumps sold the long-term lease on the hotel for $375 million—a price that was tens of millions of dollars more than other offers, a coup for Eric.

Eric says he’s confident the business can function without conflicts if his father wins re-election. “I can promise you I will not be finger painting and trying to sell it to China for 500 grand,” he said, swiping at Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden whose business pursuits and art sales have been greatly scrutinized.

Eric often spends mornings doing interviews—not just with Fox News but also with radio stations and local TV. But after the election, he plans to recede from the spotlight and focus on the business. “I don’t always need to be in front of the camera. It’s nice to be able to pick and choose your spots.”

On the road for some 200 days a year, he said he often calls home to his two young children to recite prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance. He shares parenting duties with his wife, Lara Trump, who is co-chair of the Republican National Committee. In 2021, the couple bought a $3.2 million home in Jupiter, Fla., about a mile from Don Jr. Eric describes a close relationship with his brother, and the two share a love for hunting.

He, Don Jr. and Ivanka spent most of their adult lives working for the Trump Organization and at one point roughly divided up responsibilities by asset class, with Eric focusing primarily on construction and acquisition of golf and hotel projects. Ivanka was her father’s favorite, according to former executives and others who knew the family well, impressing him with her style, business acumen and the entrepreneurial skills she demonstrated when she launched her own brands of clothing and accessories.

Ivanka shifted her focus to politics and advising her father in running the country when he took office. Her husband, Jared Kushner, became a senior White House adviser. Donald Trump said Eric and Don Jr. would mind the store while he was in the White House. But over the years, Don Jr., too, has concentrated more on politics.

The Trump Organization hit the brakes on growth after Trump became president, partly because of conflict-of-interest concerns and in part as a response to outrage over his positions on issues such as taking a tough line on illegal immigration, which hurt the Trump brand in some markets. The Trump Organization backed away from dozens of foreign deals that were in the works.

Eric shored up the Trump Organization’s balance sheet by paying off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and raising cash through sales and refinancings. He was also the person sweating most of the details when Trump Organization courses hosted events for LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed upstart taking on the PGA Tour. When most of the world’s best golf courses didn’t want anything to do with LIV, the Trump Organization saw an opening after the PGA of America yanked its major championship in 2022 from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump courses hosted six LIV events over the circuit’s first three seasons.

The Trump courses had the same sort of financial arrangement with LIV as other U.S. courses, where they paid a site fee of around seven figures, according to people familiar with the LIV operation. LIV hasn’t yet announced whether it plans to use Trump courses again in 2025. But any use of a Trump course by LIV if he is the president would immediately land the circuit into a revived controversy over emoluments.

Even without a legal fight, the history between the Trump Organization and LIV could also cloud policy debates during a future Trump administration over U.S.-Saudi relations.

Eric Trump also has renewed his company’s foreign expansion efforts. The Trump Organization has teamed up with Dar Al Arkan, a Saudi real-estate firm, to develop a $1.6 billion Trump-branded golf and resort project in Oman. The first phase of that project is expected to be completed in 2027.

Trump and Dar Al Arkan also announced this year a new condominium project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as a golf resort in Vietnam. Projects launched before Trump was elected president in 2016 are continuing in Indonesia and India. In all these projects, the Trump Organization isn’t investing any of its own money, but is providing branding, marketing and management expertise.

Eric Trump is still dealing with his company’s legal problems and woes in the office market, as well as making his own distinctive mark. As he wrapped up an interview from his office overlooking Fifth Avenue, Eric Trump said he would join his father’s new administration if he asks. But he made his intentions clear.

“I love our company, I love real estate,” he said. “I love building.”

—Louise Radnofsky and Andrew Beaton contributed to this article.

Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and Peter Grant at peter.grant@wsj.com