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A Korean firm fighting a US trade case paid Trump’s company $2 million
South Korea’s Base Group paid Trump’s holding company a $2 million nonrefundable development fee for a planned golf course, according to Trump’s 2026 financial disclosure. Base Group’s subsidiary, Korea Aluminium, was fighting Commerce Department penalties over alleged tariff evasion. Reporting found no evidence the Trumps intervened.
What happened
Base Group is a South Korean conglomerate with roughly a decade of ties to the Trump family; an affiliate distributes Trump-branded wine in Korea. Its subsidiary Korea Aluminium has been fighting Commerce Department findings, first made in 2023, that it routed Chinese aluminum through South Korea to evade U.S. tariffs. A preliminary ruling on July 13, 2026 could raise the duty on its foil to 105.8%; a final determination is pending.
Trump’s financial disclosure for 2025, released June 30, 2026, listed a $2 million “nonrefundable development fee” from Base Group. The fee was tied to a “letter of intent” for a golf course in Korea that has not been announced. The New York Times and Washington Post reported the payment on July 14. Both companies say it concerns only the golf project, and neither paper found evidence that Trump or his family intervened with Commerce on Base Group’s behalf.
On August 6, 2026, Senators Warren, Blumenthal and Kim sent Base Group’s chairman 12 questions, including whether the payment was meant to influence the tariff case. The disclosure lists the fee as realized income, and the record counts it in the family’s cash.
Who benefited
Trump’s holding company received the $2 million, and the president personally reported it as income. Eric Trump runs the family business. The fee was nonrefundable, so the family keeps it whether or not a golf course is ever built.
Who wanted something
Base Group’s subsidiary had a live tariff-evasion case before the Commerce Department, with duties that could reach 105.8%, when it paid the president’s company $2 million. The golf project it paid for did not yet exist publicly. The company says the payment was about golf.
Who lost out
Tariff-evasion penalties are collected on the public’s behalf by a department the president runs. A company contesting them paid the president’s family $2 million. No evidence has been found that the payment changed the case, and the case is still open.
Why it matters
A foreign company with a penalty case before a department the president controls paid his family business $2 million, nonrefundable, for a project that had not been announced. Both sides say it was about golf. Three senators have asked the company to prove it.
Sources The Washington PostOffice of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (primary)Korea JoongAng DailyThe New Republic