China approves 5 Ivanka brands after ZTE pivot
WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump’s business has won approval from China for at least five new trademarks.
The timing appears to be suspect with it coming just days after US President Donald Trump announced he was working on a controversial deal to drop US prohibitions against China cellphone manufacturer ZTE, according to a report from The Daily Mail.
Trump said Friday he had reached a deal to keep Chinese telecoms giant ZTE running, rolling back penalties in exchange for security guarantees.
The move infuriated Democrats and some in his own party after the company violated US sanctions on Iran and North Korea and repeatedly lied to US government officials.
But now, daughter Ivanka’s operations will give her the exclusive rights to market a variety of products in China that will likely amount to millions of dollars in profits, The Mail said.
Although the trademark applications were submitted more than a year ago, they were all approved on May 7 — then five days later Trump said he was working on a deal to lift US business barriers against ZTE in order to save Chinese jobs.
News of the agreement drew immediate fire on Capitol Hill.
Under the agreement, ZTE would oust its management team, hire American compliance officers and pay a fine.
The fine would come on top of the roughly $1 billion ZTE has already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
In return, the Commerce Department would lift a seven-year ban on ZTE’s purchase of components that the Chinese firm depends on from US companies.