China swiftly approves nearly 40 new Trump trademarks, including hotels and escort services

Jason Silverstein
NEW YORK DAILY NEWSWednesday, March 8, 2017, 8:40 AM[img]http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2991665.1488980015!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/trump-navy.jpg[/img]
President Trump's lawyers filed for the trademarks in April 2016.(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)BY Jason SilversteinNEW YORK DAILY NEWSWednesday, March 8, 2017, 8:40 AM

China has rapidly approved nearly 40 new trademarks for President Trump and his family in the past few weeks — just the latest Trump business deals that ethics experts see as a possible Constitutional violation.China’s Trademark Office published the 38 preliminary approvals on Feb. 27 and on Monday, after already registering one Trump construction trademark earlier in February.

The office approved applications for hotels, golf clubs, shops, real estate companies, restaurants and even bodyguard and escort services, according to public records. They will be formally approved after 90 days unless there are official objections.One intellectual property expert in Hong Kong said he had never seen the office OK so many applications so swiftly.

“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,” Dan Plane, director of Simone IP Services, told The Associated Press.Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the trademarks in April 2016 — months before he won the presidency, but long after he started attacking China on the campaign trail, accusing it of stealing American jobs and cheating on trade deals.

Trump said at one rally in May that Americans were letting China “rape our country” and that it was guilty of “the greatest theft in the history of the world.

”There is no evidence that China expedited the applications as some sort of favor to Trump.If any evidence emerges, the new deals could be blatant violations of the emoluments clause, an anti-bribery provision in the Constitution. The clause says the President is not allowed to accept any gift or title from foreign leaders without congressional approval. A violation of the clause is a potentially impeachable offense.

 Even if there is never an indication of special treatment, the trademarks once again raise questions about how Trump’s political and business interests will mix. Trump has not formally divested his worldwide web of assets, and claims he is letting his adult sons run his businesses without his guidance.\

Ethics experts and Trump critics have already pointed out numerous dealings that might test the Constitution, such as Trump’s new Washington, D.C. hotel — which has catered to foreign leaders visiting the nation’s capital — and Trump having his children sit with him for meetings with foreign diplomats.

Last edited by Goose (3/08/2017 8:51 am)