Vučić threatens protesters and prosecutors after failure to build “Trump Tower” in Belgrade

Serbian authoritarian leader Aleksandar Vučić has threatened retaliation after protesters and a prosecutor blocked plans to build the “Trump Tower” in Belgrade.

The $500 million project was abandoned following an indictment against Serbian Minister Nikola Selaković, who was accused of abusing his official position to support the development.

“I will personally ensure that anyone involved in causing this damage is held accountable,” Vučić said during an extraordinary press conference, according to The Guardian.

Vučić, whose close ties to Vladimir Putin have left him with few Western allies, had personally sought to gain favor with the Trumps. However, thousands of demonstrators organized protests at the planned site of the hotel and apartment complex.

A spokesperson for Affinity Partners, the investment company led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, which had planned the project, said: “Projects with purpose should unite rather than divide. Out of respect for the people of Serbia and the city of Belgrade, we are withdrawing our construction application.”

Since Donald Trump regained the White House 13 months ago, his sons have closed a series of deals from the Gulf to Vietnam, generating an estimated $864 million in family revenue in just the first half of this year.

The Trump family had considered adding a property in Belgrade to their international portfolio since 2013. In 2024, Kushner visited Serbia to announce that the project would finally move forward. Days after Trump’s inauguration in January, Eric Trump revealed that the building would carry the family name.

Two months later, Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Belgrade to meet Vučić. While Serbians filled the streets protesting corruption and the alleged incompetence of his regime, the president and Trump Jr. enjoyed what Vučić called a “cordial discussion” on “bilateral relations,” remarks that blurred the line between business and geopolitics. Nonetheless, the project soon ran into serious difficulties.

The site had previously been protected as a cultural heritage location. Once a jewel of modernist architecture, it housed the ruins of the military headquarters of Slobodan Milošević’s genocidal regime, which was bombed by NATO in 1999.

Nine days after Trump’s electoral victory in November 2024, Vučić’s administration revoked the site’s protected status. However, the required documentation was allegedly falsified, according to the director of the cultural heritage institute, who was arrested in May.

Serbia is also facing an energy crisis after the Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on the Russian-owned Serbian oil refinery NIS.