Donald Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet, but he is already making decisions and issuing statements to world leaders that radically depart from American foreign policy, all to the benefit of his family’s corporate empire. Because of this, the next president of the United States is already vulnerable to undue influence by other nations, including through bribery and even blackmail.
Given the vast scope of the clashes between the Trumps’ extensive business dealings and the interests of America, the President-elect vowed during the campaign to eliminate potential conflicts by severing ties to his company – yet, with only weeks to go until he takes the oath of office, he hasn’t laid out a credible plan. Trump’s sole suggestion to date – a “blind trust” run by his children – would not eliminate the conflicts, given that the money generated would still go to his family. Moreover, such a trust would be anything but blind: If Trump Tower Moscow goes under construction, Trump will see it while in Russia and know that his kids are making millions of dollars from it. That is why foreign leaders hoping to curry favour will do everything they can to help Trump’s family erect more buildings, sell more jewellery and make money through any means possible. Even if the family steps away from its company while Trump is President, every nation on Earth will know that doing business with the Trump Organisation will one day benefit the family. The only way to eliminate the conflicts – sell the company, divvy up the proceeds – has been rejected by Trump, whose transition team refused to respond to any questions from Newsweek for this article.Some of the most egregious conflicts that have emerged involve countries in Asia and its subregions, particularly the Philippines. Global policy on the Philippines has been fraught with tension since the election in May of Rodrigo Duterte as the country’s president. Duterte, who boasted to voters during the campaign that he had shot a fellow law school student for teasing him, has championed the killing of suspected criminals and street children by vigilante death squads. In 2015, he said that if he became president, up to 100,000 people suspected of links to illegal drugs could be killed. Just months after his election, Duterte said he was eager to lead a genocide of up to 3 million drug addicts. “I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said. “At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have [me].” And in September, an admitted hit man testified to a Senate committee in the Philippines that Duterte presided over a killing campaign when he was mayor of Davao City.As president, Duterte rapidly showed he was little concerned with the legal protections afforded to Filipinos suspected of crimes. During his first three months in office, 850 Filipinos were killed by death squads, apparently on little more than the suspicion that they were drug users and dealers. Since then, the estimated death toll has climbed to 4,500. The carnage has been condemned throughout the Western world; the Parliament of the European Union and two United Nations human rights experts have urged Duterte to end the massacre. One of the experts even appeared to suggest that Duterte and his government could be held legally accountable for committing mass murder in violation of international law. “Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings,” said Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions. In response to the denunciations, Duterte lashed out at the United States, threatening to align his country more with China.
Despite universal condemnation of the ongoing slaughter of Filipinos, Trump signalled his approval of Duterte’s policies during a phone call on 2 December. According to Duterte – an account that has gone uncontested by Trump – the President-elect endorsed his tactics as “the right way”. Duterte added: “[Trump] was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem.” (He also said Trump invited him to the White House, a courtesy not yet extended to Theresa May, the prime minister of America’s most important strategic ally.)The Trump transition team did not respond to Newsweek when asked if the President-elect had intended to signal his approval of the carnage in the Philippines; did not believe the conclusions of the UN and Western nations that Duterte ordered the killings; or simply did not understand the magnitude of his comments. One thing, however, is clear: the Trump family has an enormous financial interest in keeping Duterte happy. Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines, is on the verge of completion, with potential buyers having placed deposits on at least 94 per cent of the condominiums, according to Century Properties, the Trump Organisation’s business partner there. During the US presidential campaign, Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric travelled to Makati to shovel some dirt in a ceremony to celebrate the structural completion of the building; a photograph of the two men shovelling alongside top Century Properties executives was posted on the building’s website. On that same website, a line of jewellery by Trump’s daughter Ivanka is offered for sale, and it is expected to be available for purchase at the $150m (£121m) property. As with almost every property with Trump’s name on it built over the past decade, his company is not the developer; it merely sold its name to Century Properties to use on the building. Although details of the transaction are not public, contracts for other Trump branding deals reviewed by Newsweek show that they require a multimillion-dollar up-front payment as well as up to 25 per cent of the developer’s revenue, year after year. So, under the deal, Trump’s children will be paid millions of dollars throughout their father’s presidency by Jose EB Antonio, the head of Century Properties.
Duterte recently named Antonio the special government envoy to the United States. The conflicts here could not be more troubling or more blatant: President Trump will be discussing US policy in Southeast Asia with one of his (or his children’s) business partners, a man who is the official representative of a foreign leader who likens himself to Hitler. Also note that the Trump family has an enormous financial interest in Duterte’s deadly campaign: rooting out crime in the Philippines is good for the real estate values.
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