China backs Ivanka Trump trademarks
HONG KONG — China has granted initial approval for 16 new trademarks to Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s daughter and senior adviser, renewing questions about the Trump family’s intermingling of official roles and international business interests.
Among the trademarked items were shoes, shirts and sunglasses — the sorts of products that were sold under Ivanka Trump’s recently closed fashion label. Other categories given initial approval were less obvious fits, like voting machines, homes for senior citizens and semiconductors.
Representatives of Ivanka Trump and the Trump Organization previously described their trademark applications in China as part of a global effort to protect their names in places where infringement of intellectual property rights is rampant.
But that effort has spurred criticism that the Trumps’ roles in government smooth the way for the trademark approvals, and that the prospect of future Trump business in China clashes with the White House’s attempts to challenge the country over trade.
“Ivanka receives preliminary approval for these new Chinese trademarks while her father continues to wage a trade war with China,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog organization, said in an article that first reported on the trademarks. “Since she has retained her foreign trademarks, the public will continue to have to ask whether President [Donald] Trump has made foreign policy decisions in the interest of his and his family’s businesses.”
The Trump Organization, which is now run by the president’s adult sons, moved last year to protect the Trump name in the semiautonomous Chinese enclave of Macau. Donald Trump’s trademarks are held by DTTM Operations, a New York company.
Ivanka Trump Marks LLC, the organization responsible for her trademarks, applied in 2016 for the trademarks that were given initial approval last month. A representative of the company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The latest trademarks covered Ivanka Trump’s name in English and Chinese for a variety of goods and services, including clothing, electronics and medical facilities. Listed in the fine print were items including veterinary clinics and fire extinguishers.
Barring a legal challenge, the trademarks will be formalized after three months.