Trump Jr to deliver foreign policy speech alongside Indian Prime Minister during trip to promote real estate projects
Ethics experts say the visit shows potential conflicts of interest
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Your support makes all the difference.President Donald Trump’s oldest son is planning on delivering a foreign policy speech on Indo-Pacific relations at an event with Indian Prime Ministers Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to the country that has been called an “unofficial” trip.
Donald Trump Jr is scheduled to make a trip to the country to promote his family’s real estate projects before delivering the speech alongside Mr Modi, according to the Washington Post.
Mr Trump Jr has a full schedule in India starting Tuesday, including meet-and-greets with business leaders and investors from around India. The Trump organisation has projects all over India, including in Mumbai, a New Delhi suburb, and the eastern city of Kolkata.
In anticipation of his visit, Indian newspapers have been running full-page ads to get the public interested in the latest Trump Tower project, with headlines that say “Trump is here — Are You Invited?”
Those ads also invite home buyers to drop about $38,000 to “join Mr Donald Trump Jr for a conversation and dinner”.
Mr Trump Jr will take a break from that promotional tour to give the foreign policy speech, and the whole affair has been criticised by ethics experts for potential conflicts of interest.
While the Trumps have indicated that they have separated the President from the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organisation, those experts say that, because Mr Trump did not divest from his holdings in the company, the potential for conflicts persists.
“Trump’s company is literally selling access to the president’s son overseas,” said Jordan Libowitz, the communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Washington Post. “For many people wanting to impact American policy in the region, the cost of a condo is a small price to pay to lobby one of the people closest to the president, far away from watchful eyes.”
The Trump Organisation has at least three towers underway in India, and others are reportedly being planned in the future.
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