Politico | Trump’s luxury resorts in Indonesia collide with diplomacy in South Korea
- The US president’s recent meeting with the South Korean leader is the latest example of blurred lines between his official work and business interests
- His ongoing deals, such as those in Indonesia, have spurred questions about whether his actions are based on what’s best for the country or what’s best for his company
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Anita Kumar on politico.com on July 01, 2019.
It’s not clear whether Trump brought up the Indonesia projects during his talks with Moon. But the meeting represented the latest example of the blurred lines between Trump’s official diplomatic work and his business interests.
The expansion of the project that now has the South Korean government attached to it seems to run afoul – at least in spirit – of Trump’s pledge that the Trump Organisation will not enter into any new foreign deals while in office.
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“In addition to the new town development project in Lido, we expect to receive orders for the Bali Trump Resort Project,” a Posco E&C official said in the statement.
In a little-noticed company update in February, MNC wrote that an “aggressive global expansion” of the Trump international portfolio was underway with “numerous projects in the pipeline.” The document did not provide details of the projects.
Trump’s ongoing business deals have spurred questions about whether his actions as president are based on what’s best for the country or what’s best for his company’s bottom line.
In a break from his predecessors, Trump refused to fully separate from his company despite repeated calls for him to do so. Instead, he put his holdings in a trust – though he can receive money at any time and revoke the trust at any time.
“It is impossible to tell where the Trump Organisation ends and the Trump administration begins,” said Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly from Virginia, who is also a member of the House Oversight Committee. “This is why the founders included the emoluments clause in the Constitution expressly forbidding a president from profiting in and from his office.”
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The latest agreement with Posco could violate the Constitution – which bars officials from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments, according to lawmakers and ethics experts. Trump already faces several lawsuits, including one filed by Connolly and other Democratic members of Congress, that he is violating the emoluments clause.
“The president and his family are monetising the presidency in every way they possibly can,” Connolly said. “Conflicts of interest abound, and yet the president refuses to divest.”
The Trump Organisation, MNC and Posco did not respond to questions. But officials at the Trump Organisation, now run by the president’s adult sons, have previously said their partners – not them – contract with other companies. The Trump Organisation often only licenses its name and manages the resort, they say.
Before he was sworn into office, Trump vowed his company would not engage in new foreign deals or new transactions with a foreign country or official. The Trump Organisation withdrew from some foreign projects but not others. Company officials consider projects, such as Lido City, as unfinished but not new while ethics experts say they are new because they are signing new contracts.
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group that filed one of the emoluments lawsuits, said Trump over the course of his presidency has “shown no interest in trying to curtail his business interests or in trying to discourage foreign governments and foreign companies from doing business with him.”
“There have now been interests where you have to at least question whether his decision making has been influenced,” Bookbinder said. “I think he’s doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt at this point.”
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Both Korea and Saudi Arabia have ties to Posco. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchased a 38 per cent stake in Posco E&C, a subsidiary of steelmaker Posco. South Korea’s public pension fund owns 10.72 per cent of Posco, according to a auditor’s report in March.
Several prominent government officials from both countries attended an event in Jakarta in 2017 to celebrate the partnership of MNC’s and Posco’s subsidiaries, according to reports in foreign media. The previously unreported contract was finalised late last year.
Trump has repeatedly minimised potential problems with his business. “It’s not a big deal – you people are making it a big deal, the business,” he told reporters at one of his regular visits to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. “When I won, they all knew I had a big business all over the place.”
Several other state-owned companies signed onto the Lido City project before Trump was elected including Korea Land and Housing, China Metallurgical Corporation Group and Chinese Export and Credit Insurance.
When Trump was elected in 2016, construction was just starting. MNC expects to begin selling homes and golf memberships for both Indonesian developments this year.
