Politics helps brand Ivanka
Danger remains of conflict of interest charges
• On April 6, Ivanka Trump’s company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy.
That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
The scenario underscores how difficult it is for the president’s daughter, who has tried to distance herself from the brand that bears her name, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House.
As she crafts a political career from her West Wing of- fice, her brand is flourishing, despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise.
Criminal conflict- of- interest law prohibits federal officials, like Trump and her husband, from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more her business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the ability of two of President Trump’s most trusted advisers to deliver credible advice on issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of Chinese currency.
Trump is no longer running the brand, and she has shifted its assets to a family- run trust valued at more than US$50 million.
Meanwhile, her husband has taken steps to distance himself from his sprawling New York real estate business, divesting some of his business interests including his stake in a major Fifth Avenue skyscraper.
Ivanka Trump and Kushner have taken on prominent roles as China interlocutors in the administration. Norman Eisen, who served as Barack Obama’s chief White House ethics lawyer, says he would “never have allowed it.”
“Ivanka has s o many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy,” he said. “For their own sake and the country’s, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters.”
Jamie Gorelick, an attorney for Ivanka Trump, said she and her husband would steer clear of specific areas that could impact her business but are under no legal obligation to step back from huge swaths of policy, like trade with China.
“The ethics rules restrict participation in ' particular matters’ that focus on the interests of a discrete and identifiable class,” she said. “Foreign policy toward China is not a particular matter. It affects diverse national interests and every sector of society.”