Eric Trump has had discussions about launching a new line of Trump-branded vodka in the United States, according to people familiar with the matter, but it was unclear whether the deal would be finalized by Jan. 20, when his father, President-elect Donald Trump, will be inaugurated.
One proposal was for a deal between Eric Trump Wineries and a limited liability company that would use the Trump name under a license agreement, two of the people said.
“Given the success of Trump Winery and Trump Cidery in Charlottesville, Virginia several groups have approached our team about expanding our offerings to include spirits,” Eric Trump said in a statement. “These conversations, while exciting, have been preliminary and nothing has been finalized.”
A licensing deal for Trump Vodka launched nearly two decades ago, in 2005. “I fully expect the most called-for cocktail in America to be the ‘T&T’ or the ‘Trump and tonic,” Trump said in a news release at the time. But U.S. sales ended a handful of years later.
The president-elect is a teetotaler, and has advised his children throughout their lives to avoid alcohol. His brother Fred was a “drinker,” Trump wrote in his book Art of the Deal. “That led to a downward spiral. At the age of forty-three, he died.”
Eric Trump has said he doesn’t consume much alcohol. “I’m not really a drinker,” he told the New York Post in August at an event promoting the new Trump Cidery in Charlottesville, Virginia. “I really just work.”
The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, last week issued an advisory calling attention to alcohol as a leading preventable cause of cancer.
Over the years, Trump has leveraged his fame and his name to promote dozens of products, dabbling in hats, books, bibles, wristwatches and bottled water.
Trump markets cologne and perfume bearing his name. Last month, he turned a photo of himself and a smiling Jill Biden, seated near each other at the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening, into an ad, posting on Truth Social, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!”
Trump called the fragrances “my new Trump Perfumes & Colognes.” A note on the website he linked to said the perfumes “are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals” but by CIC Ventures LLC.
The website for the sneakers Trump has promoted are also from a limited liability company, 45Footwear LLC, that has a license agreement to use the Trump name.
“This is something that I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years,” Trump said at the SneakerCon convention last year, holding up a pair of gold shoes sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops.”
More recently, Trump has marketed a cryptocurrency venture. Donald Trump Jr. has promoted an online gun retailer.
Incoming first lady Melania Trump promotes products that include a collection of Christmas ornaments and special coins. She is the executive producer of a documentary about her life that was recently announced by Amazon.
