《做生意的艺术》是特朗普详述其童年和早期商业生涯的书，发行后成畅销书，书中提出11条“谈判心法”，具体如下：
心法1，敢要价，要大价
特朗普认为思考时就应“想大的”，多数人因害怕成功、决策和获胜而想得小，这给了像他这样的人巨大优势。
原文：“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: if you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. Most of people think small because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decision, afraid of winning. And gives people like me a great advantage.”
心法2，忍受最坏的，等着最好的
大家认为他是赌徒，但他从未赌过，做交易时总是预想最坏情况，若能接受最坏结果，好的就会自然到来。
原文：“People think I'm a gambler. I've never gambled in my life……I always go into the deal anticipating the worst. If you plan for the worst--if you can live with the worst--the good will always take care of itself.”
心法3，最大化各种可能性，让子弹飞起来
要谋而后动，保持灵活性，不执着于一个交易或方法，同时推进多个交易，因为多数交易最终会失败。
原文：“I also protect myself by being flexible. I never get too attached to one deal or one approach...I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”
心法4，切实了解你的市场
做决定前会询问每个人意见，如买地会向当地居民打听学校、商店或犯罪情况，在另一个城市会问出租车司机问题，不依赖数字专家和营销调查，自己做调查得出结论。
原文：“I like to think that I have that instinct. That's why I don't hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don't trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.”
心法5，反复无常，飘忽不定
生意场上急于求成、孤注一掷最糟糕，手段是实力，要让对手感觉你手里有独一无二的东西，不能显得急于达成交易。
原文：“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you're dead.”
心法6，打铁也需自身硬
房地产领域最被误解的概念是“位置至上”，其实不一定需要最好位置，需要的是最好的交易，通过自我增值能在逆境中打好手中的牌。
原文：“Perhaps the most misunderstood concept in all of real estate is that the key to success is location, location, location...First of all, you don't necessarily need the best location. What you need is the best deal.”
心法7，宣传、宣传和宣传
好酒也怕巷子深，要懂得宣传，虚张声势是一种真实的夸张，会带来意想不到的好处。
原文：“You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it’s not going to be worth much.”
心法8，有力反击对手，掌握主动
对待对他好的人很好，对待对他不好、不公平或想占他便宜的人，会强烈反击。
原文：“In most cases I'm very easy to get along with. I'm very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”
心法9，光说不做假把戏
可以制造刺激、做很棒的推广、得到媒体关注并适当夸张，但不能只做这些而不交付实际成果，否则人们最终会识破。
原文：“You can't con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.”
心法10，控制成本，精打细算
每节约一块钱就是增加一块钱的利润，而增加一块钱的销售增加的利润可能不到一毛钱，要控制好每一个不必要的成本，这是产生利润的重要来源。
原文：“I believe in spending what you have to. But I also believe in not spending more than you should.”
心法11，乐在其中
在持久性的高压下保持乐在其中的心态很重要，金钱对他来说不是大动机，只是计分方式，真正的兴奋是玩游戏。
原文：“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”
不过，《做生意的艺术》的合作者记者托尼·施瓦茨希望停止出版或将其重新归类为虚构作品，他称自己在没有特朗普帮助的情况下独自完成了这本书。特朗普对此否认，称施瓦茨是合作者，书是他写的，是头号畅销书。施瓦茨一再对他在书中所扮演的角色感到后悔，2016年他说自己好像给一头猪涂了口红，悔恨帮特朗普吸引了注意力。
