Mixing business and politics is a habit of the Trump family. Donald Jr., the president’s eldest son, went to Belgrade not only to support the Trump International Hotel project in the Serbian capital but also to support President Aleksandar Vučić, who often emphasizes the importance of stability in the region, and who has been recently contested by months of street protests. According to The New York Times, this is “perhaps the most explicit mixing so far in President Trump’s second term of U.S. foreign policy and the Trump family’s financial interests”.
Trump Jr.’s brief visit included a meeting with Vučić to discuss U.S. foreign aid to Serbia. The Trump family and Jared Kushner, the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, are involved in building a Trump International Hotel in Belgrade, the first of its kind in Europe. The hotel is set to be built on the site of the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense headquarters, bombed 26 years ago when NATO planes targeted the regime of Slobodan Milošević for its attacks in Kosovo. The land is now state-owned, and opposition leaders are protesting the sale to Trump, threatening to cancel everything in case of a change of government.
Protests against the government erupted in November after the collapse of a concrete structure over a railway station walkway. The incident killed 15 people and sparked an outpouring of demonstrations against what are perceived as widespread corruption issues within the government.
On Wednesday, March 19, the Serbian Parliament accepted the resignation of the prime minister, forcing President Vučić to form a new government or call for new elections by the end of the year.
Among the countries of former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia have already joined the European Union. Serbia has begun the accession process, but the road will be long. Belgrade signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) in Luxembourg on April 29, 2008. Negotiations for full membership began in 2014, and to this day, according to the EU, the country’s economy still needs substantial improvements in several areas, including rural development, competitiveness, intellectual property protection, free movement of goods and people, and public procurement.
A spokesman for Donald Trump Jr. rejected any insinuation that the visit created a conflict of interest, stating that the trip was solely for an interview with Vučić for Trump Jr.’s podcast, not for foreign policy matters or real estate dealings. “Don hosts one of the most followed political podcasts in the world and was in Serbia exclusively as a host for an interview,” said Andy Surabian, the spokesperson. “He was in the country for less than eight hours and at no point discussed any matters related to the Trump Organization with anyone.”
According to The New York Times, the visit was organized by Brad Parscale, former campaign manager for President Trump.
“A cordial conversation with Donald Trump Jr., son of U.S. President Donald Trump, about bilateral relations between Serbia and the USA and current topics influencing the global political and economic scene,” Vučić wrote in a social media post after the meeting.
