{"id":1009,"date":"2018-05-28T14:08:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1009"},"modified":"2018-05-28T14:08:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T18:08:09","slug":"ivanka-trump-wins-china-trademarks-then-her-father-vows-to-save-zte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1009","title":{"rendered":"Ivanka Trump Wins China Trademarks, Then Her Father Vows to Save ZTE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ivanka Trump at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in March. Her growing portfolio of trademarks in China raises questions about whether Chinese officials are giving the Trump family extra consideration that they otherwise might not get.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Tom Brenner\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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BEIJING \u2014 China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions.<\/p>\n

At around the same time, President Trump\u00a0vowed to find a way<\/a>\u00a0to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating American limits on doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea.<\/p>\n

Coincidence? Well, probably.<\/p>\n

Still, the remarkable timing is\u00a0raising familiar questions<\/a>\u00a0about the Trump family\u2019s businesses and its patriarch\u2019s status as commander in chief. Even as Mr. Trump contends with Beijing on issues like security and trade, his family and the company that bears his name are trying to make money off their brand in China\u2019s flush and potentially promising market.<\/p>\n

The most recent slew of trademarks appear to have been granted along the same timeline as Ms. Trump\u2019s previous requests, experts said. But more broadly, they said, Ms. Trump\u2019s growing portfolio of trademarks in China and the family\u2019s business interests there raises questions about whether Chinese officials are giving the Trump family extra consideration that they otherwise might not get.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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These critics say the foreign governments that do business with Ms. Trump know they are dealing with the president\u2019s daughter \u2014 a person who also works in the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome countries will no doubt see this as a way to curry favor with President Trump,\u201d\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, and Norman Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, two nonprofit watchdog groups. Mr. Eisen\u2019s group\u00a0reported<\/a>on the trademarks on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther countries may see the business requests made by his daughter\u2019s company as requests they cannot refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Trump\u2019s representatives have said that there is nothing improper about Ms. Trump\u2019s trademarks and that they prevent individuals from profiting off her name. Abigail Klem, her brand\u2019s president, said\u00a0previously<\/a>that the brand\u2019s protection of trademarks is \u201cin the normal course of business,\u201d especially in countries where trademark infringement is rampant. Ms. Trump\u2019s representatives were not immediately available for comment on Monday, a holiday in the United States.<\/p>\n

Chinese trademark officials didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump said in a\u00a0surprise announcement<\/a>\u00a0on May 13 that he was working with China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, to save jobs at the Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE. The company was left paralyzed after American officials forbade companies in the United States from selling their chips, software and other goods to ZTE for violating trade controls. Mr. Trump\u2019s announcement was widely seen as a potential peace offering to Beijing as the United States and China threatened each other with tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n