Did Donald Trump own ‘slaves’ in Dubai? Here’s the truth about viral claim

Published on: Aug 09, 2025 01:34 am A claim about President Donald Trump ‘owning slaves’ in Dubai is going viral on social media A claim about President Donald Trump ‘owning slaves’ in Dubai is going viral on social media. An X user, who goes @MrsButters, posted about a documentary to make the bombshell claim. She cited a documentary titled ‘Trump in Dubai & China in Africa’. Her post has been retweeted over 1000 times at the time of writing this story. Donald Trump reacts next to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev outside the White House in Washington, D.C.(REUTERS) “Trump owned slaves. In case you missed it and didn’t know, Trump owned slaves. I used to work for Vice Documentary and HBO, and Vice did a documentary on Trump owning slaves in Dubai. The documentary is called Trump in Dubai and Africa, and China. The journal is Ben Anderson, and you can find it for free on YouTube right now,” she said, further sharing the link to the documentary. “And I think that documentary is extremely relevant right now as we just heard Trump say that, you know, maybe for immigrants, what can happen is that their owners can take responsibility for them if they work on farms or in hotels or just in different industries. I already made a TikTok about this, and it got taken down at like five or six million views because TikTok is a coward,” she further added. What the documentary actually shows The episode ‘Trump in Dubai & China in Africa’ (2016, HBO) reports on the harsh conditions faced migrant laborers building projects tied to Trump’s name in Dubai. They worked grueling hours, often had their passports held employers, earned meager wages, and were trapped debt. Journal Ben Anderson investigates these labor abuses but does not allege that President Trump personally owned enslaved individuals in Dubai. The reality vs the rumor The claim that Trump ‘owned slaves in Dubai’ is inaccurate. The documentary reflects systemic labor exploitation in parts of the Gulf, not individual ownership Trump. Vice’s reporting describes forced labor conditions but stops short of labeling them as slavery under the law. While labor rights abuses are serious, conflating exploitative conditions with outright ownership is misleading. There is no credible evidence behind the viral claim. News / Trending / US / Did Donald Trump own ‘slaves’ in Dubai? Here’s the truth about viral claim See Less