The eldest sons of President Trump want to win the drone race.
On Monday, Aureus Greenway, a golf club company backed by the sons of U.S. President Donald Trump, announced it would merge with Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are thus backing a new drone company aiming to meet the Pentagon’s new demand and fill the gap left by the administration’s ban on new Chinese drones in the U.S., notes the WSJ.
The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is just the latest of Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s growing investments in the drone sector. Last month, in fact, there was the $1.5 billion deal between Israeli drone manufacturer Xtend and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings. Key players in the war in Ukraine, drones have become a priority for the Pentagon as well. This growing importance has attracted Silicon Valley investments in drone startups and military artificial intelligence, boosting the value of U.S. companies like Anduril Industries and Shield AI, reports Reuters.
All the details.
WHAT POWERUS WILL DO WITH AUREUS
Yesterday Powerus, a company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, announced it will go public through a merger with a golf course operator backed by the Trumps and listed on Nasdaq, Aureus Greenway Holdings. Powerus, founded in 2025 by Andrew Fox, produces heavy-lift drones capable of carrying industrial loads up to 675 kg. The company also offers services to convert manned vessels into remotely controlled or fully autonomous vessels.
The reverse merger will bring Powerus, founded last year, to be listed on Nasdaq in the coming months. In connection with the planned merger, Aureus has engaged Dominari Securities to assist in raising approximately $9 million in funding. Dominari counts both Trump brothers among its shareholders, each holding about 6% ownership.
AFTER THE XTEND AND JFB DEAL
The Powerus and Aureus deal is the latest business move by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Just a month ago, Eric Trump backed a $1.5 billion deal to take an Israeli company that builds this type of tactical aircraft, Xtend, public through a merger with a Nasdaq-listed construction company, Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings.
As Bloomberg recalls, a third drone component manufacturer, Unusual Machines Inc., supported both the deal with Xtend and with Powerus. Trump Jr. has been a consultant to Unusual Machines since 2024 and has invested in the company.
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AHEAD?
Finally, according to the Guardian, ethics experts have expressed concerns about the expansion of the Trump family’s business during the second presidential term. In addition to hotels and golf courses, investments involve sectors such as cryptocurrencies, energy, and financial services.
It is customary for White House tenants to place their financial interests in a blind trust managed by an independent third party. But this does not apply to President Trump. The tycoon preferred to leave control of his businesses to his adult children, a solution considered insufficient to avoid conflicts of interest.
Among the episodes cited by the British newspaper: the $6 billion merger between Trump Media & Technology Group (parent company of Truth Social) and a nuclear fusion technology company, with a $300 million investment; the Wall Street Journal revelation last February that a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family invested $500 million in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company. Immediately after this investment, Trump announced that the UAE would gain access to 500,000 Nvidia AI chips, revoking previous export controls, fueling further conflict of interest concerns.
ERIC TRUMP’S POSITION
But the Trump family seems unconcerned. In a post published on X, the president’s son defended the family’s involvement in new tech investments. In the message, he emphasized that he believes autonomous systems and drones are a better investment than companies that still print newspapers. The post references the Wall Street Journal news of Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s investment in Powerus.
I happen to believe drones will be a much better investment than companies that still print newspapers. @wsj https://t.co/ipWAm5u5qK
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) March 9, 2026
