Some 38 Trump China trademarks have been approved by the country, giving President Donald Trump and his family expanded brand exposure to a variety of possible business ventures there.
Trump, who already had about 70 trademarks in China, signed over his business interests to his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. shortly before his inauguration, BBC News noted. The trademark requests, which were made during the last year's presidential campaign, were mostly for businesses from hotels to security, BBC News said.
In the past, celebrities and businesses have trademarked their names in China to prevent them from being used by others, even though they may not have any immediate plans for using the trademarks themselves.
The Associated Press reported that the Chinese Trademark Office published the provisional approvals on Feb. 27 and Monday. The trademarks will be formally registered after 90 days if there are no objections. All but three of the trademarks are in Trump's name.
During the campaign, Trump accused the Chinese government of being currency manipulators and stealing U.S. jobs, the AP said. Critics have complained that Trump has not done enough to separate himself from his self-named businesses.
"A routine trademark, patent or copyright from a foreign government is likely not an unconstitutional emolument, but with so many trademarks being granted over such a short time period, the question arises as to whether there is an accommodation in at least some of them," Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, told the AP.
Trump and his attorney Sheri Dillon said in January that the plan to turn over business interests to his sons and donate income from foreign sources to the U.S. Treasury insulates the president from conflicts of interest during his term in office, David Weisberg noted in The Hill.
Some critics have charged that some of Trump's executive orders, like the newly revised travel ban signed Monday, excluded countries where Trump has had business interests, The Washington Post reported.
"He needs to sell his businesses outside his family and place the assets in a blind trust, otherwise every decision he makes people are going to question if he's making the decision in the interests of the American people or his own bottom line," Jordan Libowitz, the spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, told the Post.
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