As she sat in on a meeting between her father Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Nov, Ivanka Trump was also hammering out a deal with a company backed by a Japan government-owned development bank.
According to the New York Times, she was negotiating a licensing deal of Ivanka Trump products with Japanese retailer Sanei International. The Development Bank of Japan, which is entirely owned by the Japanese government, also happens to be the parent company of Sanei.
Her deal with Sanei has been in the works for two years, and there have been no reports that the Trump Tower meeting with Abe included any mention to Ivanka’s business venture. But Ivanka Trump’s presence in the meeting is highly unusual, and it came amid mounting questions about how President-elect Trump will avoid conflicts of interest between his sprawling business empire and his White House duties.
Trump announced on Twitter last week that he and his family would hold a news conference on Dec. 15 about him “leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.” He wrote that the move was “visually important… to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.”
I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my …
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016
great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! While I am not mandated to ….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016
Ivanka Trump was also present for Trump’s initial conversation with Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri, the Times reports. Trump’s children also recently met with the Philippines special envoy to the U.S., Jose E. B. Antonio, a developer who is reportedly collaborating with the Trumps on the tower in Manila.
