Several airports are named after presidents, but Trump’s is a little different
It’s not unusual to see an airport named after a president, but a recent nomenclature proposal in Florida has some unusual conditions attached to it that other namings have not.
On Tuesday, Palm Beach County commissioners will hold their first public vote on the renaming of Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump. The vote comes after officials reached a tentative trademark deal after weeks of discussions, according to the Miami Herald.
What makes the deal different from others — besides the fact that this would be the first time a sitting president had an airport named after him — is that other airports named after presidents don’t have privately owned trademarks. But administrators with the county and Trump’s company said the trademark agreement is necessary to protect against lawsuits, not for private profit, the Herald reported. Without a trademark, bad actors could also make money off unauthorized merchandise from a brand that makes millions of dollars from those sales each year.
Why is this deal different?
According to the publication, the agreement would allow Trump’s businesses and family to benefit from the airport name change, which is funded by taxpayer dollars. The agreement does not allow Trump or his company to make money from merchandise purchased at the airport. But it does allow Trump’s company to sell airport-branded merchandise outside the airport.
Trump’s company is allowed to choose what companies the airport buys its airport-branded merchandise from.
People have criticized Trump over his personal business deals made during his presidency. Historically, presidents relinquish control of their private businesses to others when they begin their work as president. Trump said that his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are leading his company, but some have questioned that. The Herald reports that Trump remains the president of DTTM Operations, a limited liability corporation which manages Trump’s trademarks and secured the trademark for “Donald J. Trump International Airport” in February.
“That’s also unusual,” trademark attorney Josh Gerben told the Herald. “Normally a license agreement says that the goods have to be of a certain quality. It doesn’t say that you have to purchase them from a retailer that we’re approving them from.”
Trump is also allowed to control how the airport uses his name and story. The airport is authorized to use his name, image and biography in marketing materials, but Trump’s company gets to approve these uses.
“It’s not just a non-partisan individual that’s going to be able to write marketing materials or talk about Donald Trump,” Gerben said. “It’s going to be him and his organizations getting to control the messaging here.”
How does this compare to other presidential airports?
Other airports named after presidents are not protected with trademark filings by the former presidents or their families, according to CNN. The publication also spoke to Gerben, who said the trademark for Reagan National Airport is owned by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, not the Reagan estate.
“Normally, the private individual who’s being honored isn’t protecting his or her name as a trademark,” Gerben told CNN.
Gerben complimented Trump’s attorneys, saying they “did a really good job” drafting the trademark.
But there are other reasons for trademarking a name other than potential profit from licensing fees, Gerben said. Trademarks can prevent infringement on third-party platforms and allow groups to set quality standards for products under the brand’s label.
Kimberly Benza, the Trump Organization’s director of executive operations, told CNN that the trademark was a way to keep “bad actors from infringing upon or misusing the name.”
Concerns previously raised
Emails discovered by the Miami Herald showed that county officials and Florida state lawmakers raised concerns last year that the renaming “confers a commercial benefit upon the president and his companies.” They questioned whether Trump’s company should pay for the free publicity the renaming has generated.
In late 2025, the county raised a list of safety and legal concerns before Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill approving the renaming in March. But the renaming can only proceed once both parties approve the license agreement. County administrators said the bill fixed many of the issues officials raised, but other concerns remain.
One issue is whether the state will agree to pay the more than $5 million the county estimates it will cost to implement the name change without pulling money from other projects. The state has yet to pass a budget for next year.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
