The account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management, paid taxes in the Asian country between 2013 and 2015 and was created “to explore the potential of hotel deals in Asia,” says the New York newspaper.
While Trump criticizes American companies doing business with China, his own trading history is full of financial agreements abroad, and some have involved the Chinese state. So and as he puts pressure on his opponent, Democrat Joe Bien, with questions about his position on China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities in the Asian country, including this previously unknown bank account.
According to NYT, Trump and his allies have tried, throughout the election campaign, to paint the Democratic nominee as a soft politician with China, partly pointing to biden’s son’s business in that country.
Trump with “undeclared publicly undeclared” overseas accounts
However, China is one of only three foreign nations, the others being Britain and Ireland, where Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president’s tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times. These foreign accounts do not appear among the financial data made public by Trump, where he must list personal assets, because they are kept under corporate names.
And tax records don’t include details about how much money you could have transferred through overseas accounts, although the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requires taxpayers to report on the portion of their income earned in other countries.
British and Irish accounts are held by companies operating Trump golf courses in Scotland and Ireland, which regularly report millions of dollars in revenue from those countries. Trump International Hotels Management reported billing for only a few thousand Chinese dollars ($188,561)
Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the newspaper that the company had “opened an account at a Chinese bank that has offices in the United States to pay local taxes,” associated with efforts to do business there.
As with Russia, where he unsuccessfully explored hotel and tower projects in Moscow, Trump has long sought an agreement to operate in China. Its efforts date back to at least 2006, when it filed trademark applications in Hong Kong and the mainland. Many Chinese government approvals came after he became president.
Trump business with Chinese and Ivanka investors in China
The president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, also obtained Chinese trademark approvals for her business after joining White House staff. It is difficult to accurately determine, from tax records, how much money Trump has spent trying to get business in China, the rotary acknowledges.
Records show that you have invested at least $192,000 in five small businesses created specifically to carry out projects there over the years. These companies needed at least $97,400 in business expenses since 2010, including some lower tax payments and accounting fees in 2018.
Outside China, Trump has been more successful in attracting wealthy Chinese buyers to his properties in other countries. Its hotels and towers in Las Vegas and Vancouver, British Columbia, places known for attracting Chinese real estate investors, have found numerous buyers from that country and, in at least one case, caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the newspaper states.
