Trump’s India ties shadow refinery bid in Texas

Trump Jr.’s – Months after Donald Trump Jr. danced with Anant Ambani during a visit to India, an obscure Texas refinery startup backed by the Ambani family drew a nine-figure investment. Records and people close to the project show Trump Jr. secretly acquired a stake, while

In late November in Jamnagar, India, Donald Trump Jr. toured Anant Ambani’s private zoo. grinning as the two sides of the visit—two of the world’s most powerful business families—moved through the night together. In the same span of days. they performed a Gujarati folk dance. moving to music and presenting a public unity that was hard to miss.

Four months later. a Texas startup called America First Refining announced it had received a nine-figure investment from the Ambanis’ company. The project. aimed at building the first major new oil refinery in the United States in about 50 years. immediately puzzled energy investors who knew the startup’s track record: serial rebranding. blown deadlines. and a history of bankruptcy and lawsuits alleging fraud.

The new detail that helps explain why this deal suddenly advanced came from records and seven people familiar with the company. They say Trump Jr. secretly acquired a stake in America First Refining—an arrangement that remains murky in its terms, including how much he owns and what he paid.

A Trump Jr. spokesperson said Trump Jr. “has no operational involvement in AFR and is simply a passive minority investor in an American company that aligns with his worldview.” The spokesperson added that “the entire premise of this story relating to Don is false. ” and said “Don does not interface with the Federal Government on behalf of any company that he invests in or advises.”.

ProPublica did not find evidence that Trump Jr. was aware of refinery executives’ suggestions that his investment would help them gain White House access. In response to detailed questions. America First Refining said. “The claims in this story are false. ” but declined to say what. specifically. it was disputing. The company’s CEO previously denied wrongdoing in lawsuits ProPublica reviewed, and those suits were either settled or dropped.

Behind the scenes, the Ambani relationship with the Trump world has been patient and deliberate. Reliance Industries. Mukesh Ambani’s company and the umbrella for Anant’s energy business. paid the Trump Organization $10 million in 2024 as a “development fee” for a project in Mumbai. according to the president’s financial disclosure. Reliance told ProPublica that the real estate project is real and “remains under development. ” even though it had not yet been announced as a Trump project.

Ivanka Trump attended Anant Ambani’s wedding party in India in 2024, where guests were treated to a Rihanna concert. Mukesh Ambani traveled to Washington. D.C. for Trump’s second inauguration and posed with the president at a private reception. with Anant later appearing alongside his fiancée. Radhika Merchant. at a Sangeet ceremony in Mumbai on July 5. 2024.

But this business closeness landed in the middle of an escalating political fight between the White House and Reliance. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Reliance reportedly made billions in profits by buying vast quantities of Russian oil at a discount. In August—when Trump grew frustrated with efforts to end the war—Trump doubled his tariffs on India to 50%. The move was explicitly designed to force companies like Reliance to stop buying Russian oil. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly assailed “India’s politically connected energy titans” for “funding Putin’s war machine. ” widely read as a reference to the Ambanis.

Then Trump Jr. went to India.

During the November trip, he visited Anant Ambani. At the end of the trip, Trump Jr.’s personal lawyer commented at a business conference in Miami: “I had a nice closing this morning with Don Trump Jr., who’s flying back from India today.”

The next week, a Texas startup then called Element Fuels filed paperwork to create America First Refining LLC. In an email, the attorney John Willding told ProPublica that there was “no transaction in India or with an Indian company that I was ever involved with.”

Anant Ambani, who helps run Reliance’s energy business, personally worked on the Texas refinery deal for months before it was announced, a major Indian newspaper later reported.

As the Ambanis finalized their investment, the temperature between Washington and New Delhi appeared to shift. In February. the Trump administration struck a trade deal with India. dramatically lowering tariffs. and reportedly gave Reliance a license to buy Venezuelan oil. When the Iran war broke out and rocked global energy markets, the U.S. gave India a sanctions waiver to buy Russian crude; the waiver was later expanded to all countries. When asked about potential conflicts of interest, the White House said that “there are no conflicts of interest.”.

Reliance did not answer ProPublica’s questions about Trump Jr.’s and Anant Ambani’s roles in the investment deal. but it said in a statement the company did not receive “any unique or preferential treatment” from the U.S. government. “There is no connection between Reliance’s investment in AFR and any unique measures associated with general U.S. trade, tariff, sanctions or licensing outcomes,” Reliance said. “The investment was evaluated and approved on its commercial merits, strategic fit and long-term value creation potential.”.

In March, President Trump personally announced Reliance’s deal with the Texas startup on Truth Social, thanking the Ambani company for its “tremendous Investment.” After the announcement, Willding shared the news on LinkedIn saying: “Just so proud to have been part of this one.”

That claim didn’t stand for long. In an email to ProPublica, Willding rowed back his earlier description. “I have never worked for or advised AFR and had zero involvement in their deal with Reliance Energy,” he said. “I simply saw the press release and was excited for them.”

Willding’s involvement became more tangled as details surfaced about where the money and the lawyers pointed. In June 2025. he registered a new entity in Wyoming called TX Fuels. LLC. listing the company’s address as Trump Jr.’s mansion in Jupiter. Florida. Willding told ProPublica that his “only involvement in AFR was handling the legal paperwork” for the Trump Jr. LLC’s investment in the startup.

Trump Jr. first hired Willding in May 2021, according to interviews the lawyer has given. A corporate deal lawyer in Dallas. Willding described himself as “outside business counsel to the Trump family” and said he talks to Trump Jr. or Eric Trump almost daily. In his living room, he has installed a portrait of President Trump over the mantel. Willding’s practice has boomed during the second Trump administration. and he said he brought the lawyer to Argentina. Saudi Arabia. and South Korea. At a conference in June 2025. he said: “Everybody in the world wants to do business with the United States right now.” He added: “Every company wants to do business with the Trump family.”.

America First Refining also carried other visible links to the Trump orbit. Howard Lutnick’s firm Cantor Fitzgerald—whose sons took over after Lutnick became Trump’s commerce secretary—was working as the financial adviser to America First Refining. including on the Ambani investment deal. Cantor Fitzgerald announced. Cantor Fitzgerald declined to comment.

And the company’s own executives described direct help from federal leadership as it tried to line up foreign investors. CEO John Calce told a local news outlet that the company had “received support from the White House.” On an industry podcast. Calce said the National Energy Dominance Council—led by the interior and energy secretaries—had “helped us with. candidly. introducing us and helping us meet some of these people overseas.”.

For a refinery startup that had struggled for years, those introductions mattered. America First Refining explored going public, according to three people close to the company. That could let investors begin cashing out even if the refinery never gets built—a milestone many energy insiders still view as a long shot.

Reliance’s investment was made at a valuation of at least $1 billion, according to America First Refining’s announcement.

Port of Brownsville is where the plan keeps returning, despite delays, lawsuits, and financial uncertainty. Building a refinery there has been Calce’s mission for a decade. A former Yale offensive lineman. Calce started his career as a high school football coach after an unsuccessful attempt to make the NFL. He describes himself as a “lifelong entrepreneur.”.

The project has been serially delayed, out of money, rebranded, and trailed by angry former business partners. At one point, Calce’s companies were being sued simultaneously by eight other firms. In 2022. during bankruptcy proceedings for an earlier iteration of the project. a trustee appointed to oversee the case sued Calce too. The trustee alleged that Calce and other insiders improperly siphoned away cash and other assets. Calce denied wrongdoing, and the case was ultimately settled.

During the Biden administration. as the company sought financial support from the Department of Energy. it pitched itself as a climate-friendly green project that would also help “people of underrepresented social demographics” in Brownsville. according to records from that period. The company failed to secure enough money from outside investors, and construction was delayed.

By the company’s own estimate, building the refinery will take years and cost $3 billion to $4 billion. Even if it’s built, profitability could be difficult. Energy investors told ProPublica that there’s a reason the U.S. hasn’t seen a major new refinery in decades. Ed Hirs. an energy economist in Houston. said: “Refineries cost a lot of money and essentially make pennies on the dollar.” He added: “Wall Street is not going to finance a new refinery.”.

The company’s political connections may have helped it keep moving, even when it looked close to stopping. Earlier this year, a website went live for another Calce company called Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals. It claimed to have a network of oil storage terminals in places like the Netherlands and Singapore. more than 850 employees. and a C-suite of experienced energy executives. ProPublica found no evidence the executives are real people or that the storage terminals actually exist. The phone numbers listed on the website are currently showing as contacts for a Houston baklava caterer. a Dallas-area taxi service. and an OB-GYN office—numbers that are dead.

And in Texas, the refinery’s path through regulators took an abrupt turn. In February—shortly before the Ambani investment became public—America First Refining sought an extension on its permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Inside the agency, emails obtained by ProPublica show officials scrambling to approve the request. “Need to get this one logged and processed asap,” one official wrote. Another wrote: “You are going to have to do this one. I will explain why in person in a few. ” and added. “You can guess if you check out the name.” America First Refining received approval the next day.

A Texas agency spokesperson did not address questions about the emails. “This request was processed quickly due to the quality of information provided,” the spokesperson said.

The claims, denials, and fast turns are what linger when the story is laid out in a straight line. Trump Jr. and Anant Ambani publicly embraced each other in India in late November. and by early spring the Ambanis’ money was backing a Texas refinery pitch built from years of failure and financial chaos. In between, the U.S. government’s trade and sanctions posture toward India shifted. the president publicly praised the deal on Truth Social. and a startup CEO described help from the White House to meet foreign investors.

At the center of it all is the question that America First Refining. Trump Jr.’s camp. and Reliance have all tried to contain with repeated denials and narrow definitions: how much access—real or implied—followed the Trump family’s growing business orbit overseas. and how much of that business ultimately became leverage for a project that has struggled to survive on its own merits.

For now, the refinery—planned for the Port of Brownsville—still sits in a long tunnel of deadlines. The optimism is loud. The groundwork has been restaked with a nine-figure investment. But investors who have watched the industry for years say the math is brutal, and the U.S. hasn’t financed a major new refinery in decades for reasons that don’t disappear just because the meetings moved to the Trump orbit.

The company says the political links are overstated and the claims are false. The White House says there are no conflicts of interest. What remains is the timing. the paperwork. and the quiet connection: a secret stake by Trump Jr. and then the infusion of Ambani capital into a venture that—until this moment—could not reliably pull itself forward.

Whether the next stage brings construction or another setback will determine what the deal ultimately bought. What it has already bought, at least for now, is momentum—and a spotlight that won’t fade as long as the details stay incomplete.

MISRYOUM Politics News United States politics Trump Jr. Anant Ambani Reliance Industries America First Refining Port of Brownsville tariffs sanctions waiver National Energy Dominance Council Texas Commission on Environmental Quality John Willding Cantor Fitzgerald