‘First daughter’ on mission for women
UNITED STATES: Ivanka Trump will meet European ministers and the head of the International Monetary Fund in Germany tomorrow in her first official trip as a member of her father’s administration.
Trump’s visit to Berlin comes after Angela Merkel’s trip to Washington last month. The White House said Trump would travel ‘‘at the direct invitation’’ of the German chancellor to take part in the W20 Summit, a gathering linked to the economic meetings of the G20 nations that is intended to promote ‘‘women’s economic empowerment’’.
She is to appear alongside Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, ministers from Canada and Germany and representatives from major banks.
Trump has been steadily taking a more prominent role at the White House after her appointment as an assistant to President Trump last month. Referred to in briefing notes as the ‘‘first daughter’’, she has hired former officials from the George W Bush Administration to staff her office and has begun appearing alongside her father and with members of his cabinet at meetings and events.
Her arrival in Germany to promote female entrepreneurship comes a week before the publication of her book Women Who Work, which is supposed to detail her commitment to inspiring and empowering women.
She has pledged not to take part in any promotional activities for the book and to donate the proceeds to a charity encouraging female entrepreneurship.
She has, however, been accused of hypocrisy and being ‘‘complicit’’ in her father’s efforts to roll back healthcare and reproductive rights for women.
Trump’s prominent role as first daughter is in contrast to the relative reticence of her stepmother, Melania, the first lady, who has remained in New York for much of her husband’s first months in office. — The Times