Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump Talks Crypto, Real Estate & Politics

Published Dec 10, 2024, 4:33 PM

Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump discusses crypto, real estate & politics. Trump peaks with Bloomberg at Bitcoin MENA 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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Eric Trump, thank you for joining us on Bloomberg TV here in Abu Dhabi. Let's start for the you know, let's start with the obvious question. You're in Abu Dhabi over a month after your father, Donald Trump won the US elections. Can you talk to us a little bit about the reasons why you're here at this bitcoin conference.

Yeah, it's a funny question because I've spent twenty years in the region. I built our first golf course here I don't know, fifteen plus years ago. We have a lot of partners in the region building Trump for National Hotel and in Dubai signed that obviously well before my father. I was back in politics doing projects in riod And and Jeda and Oman signed them long before politics. So listen where real estate, family hospitality in this region is unbelievable.

And that's really what I'm here doing.

And again, we've been operating property, we've been building property here for over the last decade. And we love the region. I mean, the growth of this region is incredible. Well, we were one of the first Western brands in here. I think my first strip over here was two thousand and eight. Two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, and so to see what the region has done is amazing.

To see the vision of the region is amazing.

It's probably controversial that I say this, but you know, as a developer the region, you know, sometimes you leave here and you're almost jealous, right, sky's the limits over here. They want you to build incredible structures. They actually encourage you to build incredible structures. You know, so oftentimes in the Western world, and I'm not just talking about America, you're held back. They actually they limit you. They want to they want to cap you, they want to say no. You know, this is a region that wants to say yes. They want to see kind of the best architecture, the best innovative minds. And it's a beautiful place. If you're a developer, there's there's there's no place quite like it.

But we're at a crypto conference, and then there are coinciding events that are happening.

In Abu Dhabi.

We've seen an influx of hetche funds, acid managers, you know, the likes of Ray Dalio coming to Abu Dhabi. So, you know, what can you tell us a little bit about are you trying to raise any kind of money. Are you seeking investors? What kind of people are you meeting in the UAE this week?

Now, I'm not trying to raise any money. We don't we don't need to raise money.

We're very, very fortunate to have a great private company that has a ton of cash, and you know, it's never been stronger. I'm here because I'm launching multiple buildings while I'm over here, buildings that we started, you know, several years ago, and and that are really launching now. And obviously in building the process takes a lot of time. But also I'm at the Big Cooin conference because I believe, I believe in cryptocurrencies. I believe that cryptocurrencies are the future. Banking is slow as hell. It's hands equated. It doesn't work. It doesn't make any sense that banks run on nine to five schedules, five days a week. When cryptocurrency you can You could trade it in the middle of the night on a you know, Saturday, at twelve pm, you know, while having dinner with your wife or sitting on the couch, you can trade cryptocurrency. The banks are lethargic, They don't work for everybody. They leave most people behind they're expensive, they're lethargic, they're not inclusive at all. And I think the modern banking system is changing very quickly. I think it's one of the reasons you see Black Rock spending billions in cryptocurrencies, and Fidelity in Schwab and you know, just about every bank under the sun.

It's the future.

I mean, why do I have to go all over you know, Abdabi to try and find ATM If I want to pull out one hundred bucks. By the time you pull out the money, you know you lose thirty percent on it based on currency change rates plus fees for the ATM. When you know you can literally pop open your wallet, you can send a link, takes you two seconds to do, and you don't have all those problems, you don't have all those structural problems.

And so there's no question to me that times one hundred right. Blockchain.

There's nothing that can be done in banking that can't be done more efficiently using blockchain, and blockchain changing the world, whether or.

Not people like it or not.

And there's a lot of people that see it, the people who are here at this conference. There's a lot of people who don't. The people who don't see it are the people who are gonna get left behind. And so so I believe in this technology, and my family believes in him. My father wants America to be the crypto capital of the world, and I'm happy to support it today.

So, you know, going back to the crypto talking about bitcoin and bitcoin has rallied quite a bit since November fifth. What is the Trump family's take on the Bitcoin Strategic Preserve? Is that something that you know your dad gets behind. Is that something that you get behind.

Yeah, well, we're a family that loves crypto. It certainly something that my father, I think has publicly said. In fact that the last bigcoint conference, he said that he wants it to be part of the you know, the Reserve and the Treasury. He also said he wants to see a lot of cryptocurrencies that are based in the US be tax free, and beyond that, be seeing all these other countries around the world lead the way when it comes to cryptocurrency.

We're the superpower of the world, you know, we better lead the way.

We better lead the way in terms of regulation and guidelines, a smart regulation. But instead we had incompetent SEC directors who wage war in the crypto industry for no reason whatsoever, gave massive competitive advantages to countries around the world. You know, that should never be ahead of the United States and anything that they do. But you know, I mean, every day it is finally another lawsuit against another great American company who just wanted to conduct business. And by the way, those companies were fine with regula, they just wanted the proper guidelines the place which they weren't willing to put in place. And so you know, I think my father's gonna be an unbelievable ally to the industry. I think you're gonna see great things happen. I think this digital revolution is going to change the world. I think America is going to lead the way, and I think bigcoin is obviously a big part of that because right now Bitcoin is is leading that digital revolution.

There's no one that can say otherwise than that.

You know, it's got triple to market cap of any other crypto, and no, it's it's special technology and it's one that that our country will embrace.

And we've seen in recent days we've seen your dad also appoint David Sucks to be the czar for Crypto. So what does that role look like to you, how how do you think that role will come to life? What is you know, what is David going to be looking after when it comes to the industry.

Isn't that refreshing to see somebody who actually knows something about AI and crypto run AI in crypto Kamala Harris was put in charge of AI and I'm not sure she could spell AI legitimately, you know, I don't think she knew a damn thing about Deanell. All of a sudden, you've got one the most successful people in the history of our country. You know, in that space, in the technology space, there's a running policy for technologies that you're going to change the world that are you know, they're moving forward like you're not cryptos here and it's not going anywhere. And again, if you don't brace it, you're gonna get left behind. I've said that several times. But isn't it really nice to see somebody who understands it so well, that's been so successful and it was right leading the charge for the United States of America the superpower of the world. And you know, versus some you know politician who spent their entire lives running for political office, you know, trying to figure it out, who's never been a success in it, who knows nothing about it, trying to figure their way around. And so I think that's the difference between the competency of my father's administration, the people that he's picking for his cabinet, versus the incompetency that we've seen over the last four years. It's really left us probably at a competitive disadvantage and just pivoting.

To the Trump organization. And I know that you're here, and I know that you've said previously that your father loves the UAE and loves coming to the region, and I know that you're you know, visiting the region, not just that UAE. Do you think that once Donald Trump takes office that you know, foreign deals are gonna continue come back to fruition.

Yeah, let's I've run a real estate company for a very long time. We've been in real estate as a family for about one hundred years. You know, we're fourth generation in real estate. I've been in this region long before the notion of politics even you know, kind of tickled our mind.

I'm not Hunter Biden.

I'm not out there selling finger paintings for you know, five hundred thousand dollars or you know, whatever he sold them for. You know, we're a legitimate company with thousands of employees around the globe who run the best hospitality operations anywhere on or at, the best golf course, the best hotels, you know, the best commercial buildings, best real estate buildings, retail. You know, this has literally been generations in the making. It's been my entire life doing it again. I think I came to this country, as I said before, in two thousand and seven, for the first time. We've operated properties in this country for well over a decade before my father was ever even remotely considering you know, politics, and so I'm going to continue to run those properties, and I'm going to continue to have partnerships with great partners that we've had in this region for over a decade. And you know, I care about the ethical concerns more than anybody. I navigated it perfectly in twenty sixteen. We had ethical advisors, we had lawyers. Every single time we did anything, it had to be signed off by those ethical advisors as distinct wall. There is no light in between the you know, there's obviously complete separation between any government function and me I have no role in government. I want no role in government. At the same time, I've got a responsibility to literally, you know, almost tends up thousands of employees around the world to run a great company, and you can accomplish both. So I've been very clear there's a lot of countries I want nothing to do with in terms of you know, in terms of deals, too much conflict, too much nonsense.

And I've kept myself out of those, you know.

And I would never go into too business with a foreign government by any means. But to do a real estate tower, to do a hotel with a partner that we've had for years and years and years that we've done lots of projects with, or you know, to do some great villas on the beach where we're going out there. We're designing them, we're building them, we're managing them, doing what we do.

Every single day.

That's not a conflict of interest at all, and we'll continue to do it.

So you wouldn't say that the reelection has affected the prospects for the Trump organization or how it looks at continuing to do those deals globally.

No, No, I think the election does right and that we'll play by a very different rule. We'll have ethical advisors, where if you didn't have somebody in government, you wouldn't need that. We'll have very clear guidelines or it will be absolute separation. We'll do things immaculately, perfectly, and I'm committed to doing exactly that.

Listen, politics always complicates things.

Again, we were real estate family long before politics even entered my father's mind, you know, generations before. I mean I was in the business in two thousand and six, my father didn't consider running for politics, and then until twenty fifteen. I mean, you know, do the math on that was at nine months and nine years later. So listen, Obviously, politics as ranifications on everything. But no, I'm very committed to doing the right way. I'm very committed to ethics. You will find, you know, no Trump will be getting diamonds from the mayor of Moscow's wife, all right, Unlike the other side. It's amazing we saw administration where their family got into business when their parents got into the politics. You've seen a family on our end that's largely gotten out of business when their father got into politics, despite the fact that they were in business for years before. But no, we'll do it ethically. We'll do it responsibly. I'll maintain the commitment to our employees and our teams around the world. We'll do what we've done for a very long time. At the same time, I'll be very sensitive. We will not touch foreign governments, We will not touch certain regions of the world. You know, we'll be very smart about how we do things.

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