Ivanka Trump dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago on the same day her company won provisional approval from the country’s government for three new trademarks.
During Xi’s visit to President Trump’s Florida resort in early April, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner sat next to the world leader and his wife at a dinner with top officials from both countries.
An Associated Press report found China gave Trump’s company monopoly rights to sell the brand’s jewelry, bags and spa services on the same day of the dinner.
According to the report, law prohibits federal officials from participating in government matters that could affect their own or their spouse’s financial interests. Both Trump and Kushner have official, but unpaid, roles in the White House.
Trump has taken steps to distance herself from her eponymous brand, such as prohibiting it from using her image or likeness in any new advertising or marketing. She handed over daily operations of her fashion brand before her father’s inauguration.
Trump will still have the power to kill any of her brand’s new deals if they raise ethical concerns.
“Ivanka will not weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues, or the commercial terms of agreements,” her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement. “She has retained authority to direct the trustees to terminate agreements that she determines create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one.”
