Donald Trump’s negotiating style just hit a new low: according to multiple reports, the president dangled $16 billion in crucial federal funds for the stalled Gateway rail tunnel project — the spine of Northeast rail infrastructure — only if Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer agreed to rename two major transportation hubs after Trump himself.
Trump reportedly told Schumer he’d unfreeze the money if Washington’s Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station bore his name. Schumer didn’t just reject the idea — he told Trump he didn’t even have the authority to deliver on such a bizarre deal, Reuters reports.
The funding in question isn’t chump change. The Gateway project, a $16 billion Hudson River tunnel expansion linking New York and New Jersey, has been frozen for months despite Congress already authorizing the spending. If the money doesn’t flow soon, construction on those old century-old rail tunnels could halt, threatening layoffs and disruption on one of the nation’s busiest commuter corridors.
Sources familiar with the talks describe the exchange as a stunning example of Trump’s quest to plaster his own name on national infrastructure. It didn’t come up in a formal Oval Office negotiation, but in side conversations about the stalled project, Trump’s team made the renaming demand. Schumer’s answer was a flat refusal, emphasizing that he lacked the legal power to make that kind of naming change.
Democrats — not surprisingly — reacted with a mix of mockery and outrage. Some dismissed the gambit as narcissistic and unserious, mocking Trump’s apparent prioritization of legacy branding over getting the tunnel built. New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s press shop even joked back with a satirical renaming of Trump Tower as “Hochul Tower.”
Trump’s pursuit of personal naming rights isn’t an isolated stunt. Since returning to office, he’s repeatedly sought to brand government entities and initiatives with his own name, from the Trump Gold Card immigration pathway to TrumpRX prescription drug pricing sites, and even a class of Navy warships. Some Republican lawmakers have even introduced bills to rename Dulles after Trump, though these measures have gained little traction so far.
The irony here is sharp: a funding fight over infrastructure that affects thousands of jobs and commuters becomes an ego play about whose name gets carved on buildings. Schumer’s refusal underscores that even high-stakes funding battles have boundaries — or at least supposed ones — that Trump’s team recently crossed.
For now, the funding freeze drags on, New York and New Jersey officials are suing to force the release of the money, and a judge is set to hear emergency arguments before construction grinds to a halt. Meanwhile, Trump apparently still wants his name on every terminal and ticket stub he can get his hands on — even if it might mean holding infrastructure hostage to do it.
