Trump, Kushner Selling Out US Interests In Asia To China For Personal Gain

In the wake of this Bloomberg story about how the Kushners will make a $400 million payday by selling their stake in the troubled 666 5th Avenue office building to a government-connected Chinese group, it is worth asking the question of whether the Trump administration is essentially ceding all influence in Asia to the Chinese for a vast personal bribe.

The transaction will be between the Kushner Companies and the Chinese firm Anbang whose ties to the Chinese government made President Obama stop using the Waldorf Astoria as the hotel of choice when visiting New York, primarily out of fear of espionage. The deal would value the office building at over $4 billion, the highest valuation ever for a New York City office building. In addition, to the $400 million payment from the Chinese, the Kushner Cos. would also receive another $100 million from other investors. Anbang will convert the upper floors of the office tower into luxury condominiums while the Kushners have agreed to invest $750 million into retail space in the building in return for a 20% stake in the venture. That 20% stake could be worth close to $1.5 billion. It's a pretty nice deal to get paid $500 million, then asked to put up another $250 million, and get a stake in a venture worth $1.5 billion.

But it gets even better than that. In what appears to be an additional sweetheart deal, the Kushners will also be able to have $250 million debt retired for just $50 million. The entire project relies on $850 million in funding made possible by another government program, EB-5, that has been thoroughly abused by big moneyed interests over the years without any oversight or restrictions. According to Bloomberg, the EB-5 program "grants two year visas and a path to permanent residency to foreigners who invest over $500,000 in economically distressed areas". Nothing says a distressed area like 5th Avenue in New York City.

Donald Trump spent his entire campaign railing against China, charging currency manipulation and threatening massive tariffs against Chinese imported goods. Soon after he was inaugurated, he even challenged the "one China" policy that tacitly assumes that Taiwan is part of China and proclaimed he would stand up the Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea.

But all that bluster has given way to virtually no action. Trump withdrew from TPP handing economic power in Asia over to the Chinese. He accepted the "one China" policy. He alienated our Australian allies. His response to the North Korean missile tests has been enormously weak, even considering the limited options available to the US. The labeling of China as a currency manipulator has not occurred and there has been no progress on the promised tariffs, as the administration itself is engaged in a civil war between the economic nationalists and the Wall Street crowd on that issue. And Jared Kushner, while having no formal role that requires Congressional approval or the requirement to divest himself of his economic interests, has essentially become the de-facto Secretary of State.

In return, the Trump Organization received a host of lucrative trademarks from the Chinese government last week that will allow the company to develop a variety of branded product opportunities in that country. An intellectual property consultant based in Hong Kong has never seen anything like it, saying, "For all these marks to sail through so quickly and cleanly, with no similar marks, no identical marks, no issues with specifications – boy, it’s weird." And now the Kushners receive a sweetheart deal on a troubled property in New York from Chinese interests, a deal one NYC real estate observer called "a home run of a transaction for Kushner and his group". Next month, Trump will again be profiting from the Chinese government when he hosts President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. I wonder what other bribes the Chinese have to offer then.

During the campaign, there were rumors, perhaps supported by statements from those connected to Trump, that the focus on Trump's ties to Russia were actually helpful because they distracted the press away from his deep financial ties to China. Well those ties are clearly exposed now.

In light of all these transactions, it seems pretty reasonable to believe that Trump and Kushner are selling out US interests in Asia to the Chinese for personal profit. Is anyone in the Republican party going to stand up to him?