Should luxury brands cut ties with ‘radioactive’ Donald Trump? How Gucci, Tiffany & Co. and even the PGA are weighing up their future business relationships with the former US president

Mar 2 , 2021

Donald Trump and Trump Tower. Photos: AP, AFP

Several major companies are scrambling to distance themselves from The Trump Organization, Trump-branded buildings and Trump’s relatives like Jared Kushner

Tiffany and Co. is moving out of its Trump-owned Manhattan HQ and the PGA of America has pulled its 2022 championship from Trump’s New Jersey golf course

Luxury fashion retailer Gucci won’t be leaving Manhattan’s Trump Tower any time soon.

That’s according to a report in the The New York Times detailing a deal from 2020 in which Gucci, Trump Tower’s biggest commercial tenant, renegotiated and extended its lease in the building at 721-725 Fifth Avenue. The paper cited two people with knowledge of the deal.

Trump Tower stands in midtown in New York City. Photo: AFP

The 20-year lease the company took in 2006 was due to expire in 2026. Gucci got a reduction in rent after agreeing to expand its lease beyond this date, the sources said.

Gucci declined to comment to the Times, and The Trump Organization did not respond to the paper’s request for comment. Gucci had asked the Trump Organization to sign confidentiality agreements regarding the terms of the lease, one person who had seen the lease told the publication.

A sign hangs outside a Gucci Group NV luxury clothing fashion store on Rue Royale in Paris, France. Photo: Bloomberg

The Trump Organization and Gucci’s parent company, Kering, were contacted for comment.

But Tiffany & Co. – which was recently acquired by LVMH – is not renewing the lease for its 74,000 sq ft space in a different Trump-owned building in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported. The jewellers had subleased the space on East 57th Street since 2018 after previous tenants Nike left, and used it for both its headquarters and a store while its former headquarters was undergoing renovations.

Other companies are scrambling to cut ties with the former president.

People walk in front of the Gucci store at Fifth Avenue at the Trump Tower. Photo: AFP