President Donald Trump’s business organization has announced the creation of a new wireless phone service that will carry the president’s name.
Trump Mobile, as the service will be known, will soon be available for what Donald Trump Jr. described as “real Americans” seeking “true value from their mobile carriers.” The president’s eldest son, who serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization, made the remarks at a press event in New York City on Monday morning.
According to the TrumpMobile.com website, the plan starts at $47.45 a month, reference to the elder Trump having served as the 45th and 47th president.
By comparison, Boost Mobile and Verizon’s Visible offer similar unlimited service for $25 per month. T-Mobile and Spectrum offer unlimited plans for $30.
The organization is also rolling out a $499 gold-colored phone, dubbed the T1, later this year.
The announcement represents another example of the unprecedented line-blurring the president has undertaken by running businesses as he also runs the country.
Late Friday, the president filed financial disclosure forms for 2024 showing hundreds of Trump-branded business ventures still in operation — while the Trump Organization, the main corporate entity run by the president’s family, had earned more than $57 million from sales of digital tokens launched by its World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency platform.
Trump has taken a much more aggressive move to wield the executive office, especially through his tariffs strategy, to threaten businesses whose policies he does not approve of — and reward those he favors.
The launch of a wireless phone is a particularly striking case, since it comes as the president seeks to bring more production of electronics, including smartphones, to the U.S. Trump has explicitly threatened Apple for not making its iPhones stateside.
The White House referred a request for comment to the Trump Organization. It did not respond to a followup query asking whether the president planned to use his own branded wireless service or the T1 phone.
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump Mobile users would be able to receive telemedicine on their phone, roadside assistance and unlimited texting to at least 100 countries.
The service and phone are not actually made by the Trump Organization. The company is licensing the president’s name to a wireless service that is supported by the three major U.S. phone carriers. In a separate appearance with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo’s “Mornings with Maria” show Monday, Eric Trump, the president’s second-eldest son and another Trump Organization vice president, said the phones would also be made in the U.S. but did not state the manufacturer. He also said the service’s call center would be based in St. Louis.
Representatives for the three major U.S. phone carriers did not respond to requests for comment.
The announcement appears to echo one made earlier this month by the trio of actor-hosts of the popular “SmartLess” podcast, who said they were launching their own wireless service by purchasing network capacity from T-Mobile.
Another actor, Ryan Reynolds, has invested in Mint Mobile, which also uses T-Mobile’s network. Both have been pitched as value services for users who don’t have need for unlimited data.
