The family business · First term · № 30
China approved Ivanka Trump trademarks on May 7, 2018, six days before Trump moved to rescue ZTE
“President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!”
- Date
- , Quote: Twitter, May 13, 2018; trademark records published by CREW
- Subject
- China
- Benefit
- Gifts and payments
- Government
- China
- Beneficiary
- Ivanka Trump (Ivanka Trump Marks LLC)
- Topic
- Ethics & conflicts
- Era
- First term
What happened
Chinese trademark records made public by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington show that Ivanka Trump Marks LLC received initial approval on May 7, 2018 for five trademark applications filed in 2017, covering goods such as bathmats, textiles and baby blankets; CNBC counted seven Chinese trademarks registered to the brand in May 2018, and The Guardian reported that in the preceding three months China had granted final approval for 13 of her trademarks and provisional approval for eight more. On May 13, 2018, Trump tweeted that he and President Xi were working to give ZTE, which the Commerce Department had barred from U.S. suppliers in April for violating sanctions on Iran and North Korea, "a way to get back into business, fast." The administration later lifted the ban in exchange for a $1.3 billion penalty and management changes. CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder said the timing "raises significant questions about corruption." CNBC noted the applications had been filed in early 2017, more than a year earlier, and that it was not clear the pace of approval was unusual. Ivanka Trump had stepped back from running the company but continued to profit from it. Freedom House rated China Not Free in its 2018 report.