New Delhi: The Trump organisation, led by the US President's two eldest sons — Donald Trump Junior and Eric Trump, is set to launch two residential projects in India.
The project, expected to be piloted in the coming weeks, is being reported after the organisation vowed early on that there would be "no new foreign deals" during the current Presidential tenure. The Washington Post reports that the deal was inked before the last US Presidential Elections.
The Trump organisation has licensed its name to five projects in India. A branded tower in the eastern Kolkata, a project in Gurgaon, two residential towers in Pune and a 75-storey tower in Mumbai is the conglomerate's current foothold in the country.
“We are long-term, extremely bullish on India,” the Trump Organization said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post. “The success of our existing projects and the strong inquiries that the teams are seeing from upcoming projects even before launch has been incredible. We are optimistic about the future and very proud of our existing presence in the market.”
Critics say that these deals risk major conflicts of interest for the president. The US’ Constitution emoluments clause prohibits the president from receiving foreign gifts.
“A company owned by the president of the United States shouldn’t be risking potential corruption investigations and working with foreign government officials who may be corrupt,” said Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer who served in the White House during the George W Bush administration. “They shouldn’t be trying to do all these deals all over the world. It just isn’t working.”
According to the report, Trump’s licensing arrangements in India have brought in between $1.6 million and $11 million in royalties since 2014 — including royalties stated in a range from $100,001 to $1 million last year from the Kolkata project, the company's financial filings show.
US President Donald Trump did not divest his assets after being elected and instead put his business empire into a trust controlled by his two sons.
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