TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “In the decade leading up to Donald Trump’s election as president, his company added 15 golf courses and 13 hotels.
Keeping up such a rate of expansion won’t be easy, according to Eric Trump, the president’s son, who with brother Donald Trump Jr. took over running the Trump Organization after the inauguration in January.
While the company’s revenue and income are expected to continue to rise during Mr. Trump’s term in office, it will likely be at a slower rate, Eric Trump said, because of efforts to separate the Trump presidency from the family businesses. ‘We would be doing 30 deals across the globe’ were his father not the president, Eric Trump said in an interview.
The Trump Organization’s financial information is tightly held, and Mr. Trump, unlike all other recent presidents, has refused to release his tax returns. Eric Trump declined to provide statistics on how the company’s growth rate has flattened.
But Dubai investor Hussain Sajwani confirmed earlier this year the Trump Organization backed away from a licensing deal involving $2 billion in property Mr. Sajwani was developing. The Trump Organization has said it also has canceled real-estate licensing agreements in Brazil, Azerbaijan and Georgia.”
-Peter Grant, “Eric Trump Says Presidency Is Bad for Family’s Business,” The Wall Street Journal online, April 18, 2017 10:33am