Middle Eastern business giants are split on whether Donald Trump’s recent anti-Muslim rhetoric will affect their business with the Republican presidential hopeful.
US business publications like Quartz asked on Tuesday whether the Republican presidential hopeful’s bid to bar Muslims from entering the United States would affect his Middle Eastern business — the exact monetary scope of which is difficult to discern because of the lack of public records in Gulf Arab states.
The answer: There’s no unified push to sever ties, even from Muslim business moguls.
One prominent Middle Eastern company told The Independent it is cutting ties with Mr Trump. Landmark Group, headquartered in Dubai, is the parent company of popular Middle Eastern home decor brand Lifestyle, which told The Independent that they will no longer carry Trump Organisation home decor products.
“In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the U.S. media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home decor range,” Lifestyle CEO Sachin Mundhwa said in an email.
Landmark Group spokespeople would not offer further comment on whether any other business interests would be affected or how much the decision on Trump’s furniture and home appliances would cost their company.
Still, at least one major Muslim-owned corporate giant is standing by its business with Mr Trump in the wake of Trump’s comments. Dubai-headquartered Damac Properties, which bills itself as the “largest private developer of luxury real estate in the Middle East,” penned an agreement with Mr Trump in May 2013 to operate the sprawling 7,205-yard Trump International Golf Club in Dubai.
While apparently distancing the company from Trump’s anti-Muslim sentiments, a spokesman told The Independent that Mr Trump’s politics would not affect their partnership.
"We would like to stress that our agreement is with the Trump Organisation as one of the premium golf course operators in the world,” Damac Properties senior vice president Niall McLoughlin said in an email. “As such we would not comment further on Mr. Trump’s personal or political agenda, nor comment on the internal American political debate scene. "
Damac corporate publications seen by The Independent do not disclose how much the deal was worth.
Mr Trump on Monday called to bar Muslims from entering the country after an attack by self-professed adherents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) killed 14 people last week in San Bernadino, California. Mr Trump cited an unspecified Pew Research poll that he said showed “there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population,” a press release from his campaigners said.
But Mr Trump appears to have made inroads both in the Middle East and with Muslim business moguls like Damac Group founding chairman Hussain Sajwani, an Emirati Muslim.
The Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.
