WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's meeting this week with Shinzo Abe was more than a session between president-elect of the United States and the prime minister of Japan. It was a meeting of a global family business and the leader of one of the world's top economies.
Trump's business _ The Trump Organization _ has a financial history with Japanese investors and banks. And the woman he has said would help run it to avoid conflicts while he's president _ his daughter Ivanka _ sat in on the meeting. Her participation was disclosed by the Japanese, not Trump.
"I cannot think of any incoming president with the business entanglements we see with Mr. Trump," said Douglas Brook, who worked on the outgoing transition teams of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. "The Trump Organization is a worldwide set of operating companies. The potential for the appearance of conflict is pretty high, but we're in uncharted waters here about how to deal with it."
One major intersection between Trump and Japanese investors came with the Trump International Hotel Waikiki in Hawaii. Wealthy Japanese buyers bought 4 in 10 suites and residences when they were put on sale a decade ago.
A statement from Peter Dupuis, CEO of S&P Destination Properties, on Nov. 10, 2006, announcing a one-day sale, attracted more than $700 million from buyers who purchased all 464 hotel suites and residences offered.
Trump promised to expand his business empire to Japan next.
"The reason I came to Tokyo is the fact that I want to thank all of the buyers," he said on a visit to Japan in October 2006. "We have just sold (a) tremendous number of units. And I made a pledge at the very beginning to some of the buyers, if we sell quickly a certain number of units, I would come to Japan."
The building remains a draw to Japanese buyers.
As with many other properties around the world, Trump didn't own the property. It was owned by Irongate Azrep BW LLC, which assumed the risks. It paid Trump to lease his name for the hotel and residences.
Trump got a percentage from each unit sold, and has a property management company _ Trump Hotel Collections _ that runs the hotel.
The Trump Organization also has banking ties to Japan, according to the biography "Trump Revealed," by Washington Post reporters Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher. The book details how many big U.S. banks in the 1980s such as Citibank and Chase Manhattan reduced their exposure to loans they made to Trump by selling part of the exposure to Japanese banks.
Later, when Trump sought investment for the Trump Tower project in New York, he struggled because Japanese bankers were wary of large debts, the authors wrote.
The Abe meeting was complicated by the attendance of his daughter. Trump is president-elect, not yet holding office, and can have whomever he likes at such meetings, Brook said.
"In this case, it appears unusual because the invitee was his daughter," he said.
Ivanka Trump's presence at the meeting became public through photos released by the Japanese government.
One of the photos also showed her husband, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, meeting the prime minister. Members of the press were barred from the meeting. and were not provided a summary of what was discussed.
Open government and ethics watchdogs called on Trump this week to put his many business assets and investments into a blind trust, warning that he risks conflicts of "unprecedented magnitude."
They referred to Trump's promise to avoid conflicts by transferring control of his businesses to Ivanka Trump and her brothers, calling that far short of a hands-off arrangement often called a blind trust.
"That's more like an all-seeing trust," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. He said the arrangement would "do nothing to eliminate the staggering conflicts of interest" and that "making matters still worse is that it is apparent that his children will be heavily involved in administration policy making."
Ivanka Trump has her own financial interests. She has a line of clothing, and sells high-end jewelry through Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry.
After she appeared with her father on CBS's "60 Minutes" last Sunday, her jewelry company sent an email to journalists noting that she was sporting her favorite bracelet, which retails at $10,800.
The immediate outcry over "brand placement" led to an apology of sorts from her company. In a statement, the company blamed it on "a well-intentioned marketing employee at one of our companies who was following customary protocol, and who, like many of us, is still making adjustments post-election."
