Jared Kushner’s plan to build a Trump hotel in Serbia is running into resistance

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For more than two years, Jared Kushner has sought to build a Trump-branded complex of towers in a central Belgrade site once bombed by NATO. But the plans have run into a lot of local resistance.

Moves by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s government to advance the project have sparked an outcry among opposition lawmakers. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets. And students and activists vow to occupy the property when the bulldozers move in.

The imbroglio comes as Kushner’s financial dealmaking has picked up, while he has simultaneously re-entered public life. President Trump’s son-in-law initially said he wouldn’t return to government service. But now he is taking on a major geopolitical responsibility, volunteering to help lead U.S.

negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, following a similar role in Gaza. At the same time, he runs a $4.8 billion private-equity firm that invests globally, and is mostly funded by Middle Eastern governments. That firm, Affinity Partners, is part of a record-breaking $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts and is helping fund Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros.

The Serbian quagmire began when the Vučić administration sought to remove cultural-heritage protections from the former army complex that it aims to transfer to Kushner’s company. A special prosecutor threw a wrench in the process, arresting a government official for allegedly forging documents, and launching a wider investigation. In response, the ruling party sidestepped the inquiry by passing two quick-fire measures in Parliament, stripping protected status from the site and numerous other old civic buildings.