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How Trump's political and business interests will intersect in the White House

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How Trump's political and business interests will intersect in the White House
News

News

How Trump's political and business interests will intersect in the White House

2025-01-17 13:08 Last Updated At:13:42

As he assumes the presidency for a second time, Donald Trump brings with him a broad expanse of business relationships and financial entanglements — and the possibility that those associations could influence his decision-making in the White House.

Trump's team dismisses such concerns. “President Trump removed himself from his multibillion-dollar real estate empire to run for office and forewent his government salary, becoming the first President to actually lose net worth while serving in the White House,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Unlike most politicians, President Trump didn’t get into politics for profit — he’s fighting because he loves the people of this country and wants to make America great again.”

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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during an event on combating antisemitism at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during an event on combating antisemitism at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

But questions remain. Here's a look at the various connections and potential conflicts in Trump’s second administration.

Launched in 2021, Winning Team Publishing is run by Donald Trump Jr. and Sergio Gor, a Trump adviser selected by the president-elect to run the White House personnel office. Gor also led the pro-Trump super PAC Right for America.

Trump has earned at least $11.6 million in royalties over the last two years from two of his books produced by Winning Team, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

“Letters to Trump” is an anthology of correspondence from celebrities and politicians written to him over the years. “Our Journey Together” features hundreds of photos from his first presidential term with captions “handpicked” by Trump. Another coffee table book, “Save America," features reminiscences from Trump’s presidential campaigns and term in office, as well as a lengthy reflection about his brush with death during a July assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Campaign finance records show Trump’s political fundraising committees have paid Winning Team Publishing more than $242,000 for unspecified books and printing services.

The company also publishes titles written by Trump’s staunchest supporters, including GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk.

Trump’s name and image are branded on a dizzying array of merchandise that he promotes and profits from through licensing agreements, including Bibles, diamond-encrusted watches, gold-colored sneakers and guitars that cost as much as $10,000.

Thousands of copies of the “God Bless the USA” Bible Trump sells were printed in China, a country he has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices. As president, Trump would be able to exempt Bibles and other religious texts from hefty tariffs he’s threatened to impose on imported Chinese products.

Trump’s endorsement of a line of guitars led to a “cease and desist” letter from Nashville-based Gibson Guitars. A company representative said in a brief statement the design of the Trump guitars infringes upon Gibson’s exclusive trademarks, particularly the body shape of the company’s iconic Les Paul model.

Judgments of more than half a billion dollars from civil lawsuits hang over Trump and will be more difficult to avoid than the criminal cases brought by the federal government and then abandoned after his election in November.

A New York judge ordered Trump and his companies earlier this year to pay more than $450 million after ruling he had manipulated his net worth in financial statements to secure favorable loans. That penalty came shortly after Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault. A separate jury awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation.

Trump has appealed the rulings in the fraud case and one of the Carroll cases. His latest financial disclosure list more than $101 million in liabilities stemming from the two cases.

As president, Trump can’t pardon himself for penalties imposed in civil cases unrelated to his official government duties, said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York. And because the trials have already occurred, he’ll have difficulty arguing the cases are an undue burden on his time.

The constellation of high-end golf resorts Trump owns or manages generated hundreds of millions of dollars for him in 2024 and may pull in even greater sums once he’s back in the Oval Office.

Trump’s financial disclosure reported close to $267 million in “golf-related” income, with another $161 million in combined “golf and hotel” proceeds from his Doral golf club in Miami.

During his first term, Trump frequently promoted his golf courses and routinely played at them with a large, taxpayer-funded entourage in tow, leading to criticism that he was using the power of the presidency to enrich himself. Trump pushed to host the international Group of Seven summit at the Doral property in 2019. But he dropped the plan amid accusations he would violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution that bans presidents from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.

The golf courses may also attract foreign officials and special interest groups hoping to gain access and curry favor by spending large sums at Trump properties.

Since the start of Trump’s first term in office, the cost to join his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, has soared to $1 million, allowing wealthy people to mix pleasure with politics and government business during his frequent visits to the club.

While Trump collects income from Mar-a-Lago — $111 million over the last two years — he’s been accused of charging the U.S. Secret Service “exorbitant” room rates of more than $800 per night for agents assigned to protect him when he traveled there and to other Trump family properties.

Who Trump meets with while at Mar-a-Lago and what he discusses are largely hidden from public view. The Secret Service has no electronic systems to screen or monitor presidential visitors to the estate, according to a 2020 federal appeals court ruling.

Trump launched his social media platform, Truth Social, in early 2022, after he was banned from major sites such as Facebook and the platform formerly known as Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

While he’s since been reinstated to both, Trump has often used Truth Social for more personal commentary, leaving traffic on X and other platforms for more formal statements and pronouncements. The company hasn’t disclosed how many users it has, so it’s hard to know how broad Trump’s reach there is.

But what is clear is that Trump is the primary player in Trump Media & Technology Group, which started trading on the NASDAQ stock market in March. The incoming president has a majority stake in the company, and said shortly after his general election win that he had “NO INTENTION OF SELLING” his shares, which have significantly boosted Trump’s net worth, and at that time were valued at around $3.5 billion.

Trump has promised to make America the “crypto capital of the planet” as he returns to the White House, a promise that would likely pay off for him personally.

Amidst the 2024 campaign, Trump launched a new venture to trade cryptocurrencies that he has promoted on the same social media accounts he used for his campaign. His two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have also posted about their new platform, called World Liberty Financial, as has his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who is married to Eric and also serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

The new moneymaking venture could explode in value if Trump pushes through legislative and regulatory changes long sought by crypto advocates.

During his first term, Trump said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrency but he has since taken a more favorable view — from announcing in May that the campaign would begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency to attending a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a Bitcoin “strategic reserve” using the currency that the government currently holds.

Several of Trump’s cabinet nominees, including Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and Trump’s pick for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, have substantial cryptocurrency investments.

(AP Graphic/Alex Connor)

(AP Graphic/Alex Connor)

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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during an event on combating antisemitism at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during an event on combating antisemitism at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday rolled out his plan to increase U.S. tariffs to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports, possibly triggering a broader economic confrontation with allies and rivals alike as he hopes to eliminate any trade imbalances.

"I’ve decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff," Trump said in the Oval Office at the proclamation signing. “It’s fair to all. No other country can complain.”

Trump's Republican administration has insisted that its new tariffs would level the playing field between U.S. manufacturers and foreign competitors, though under current law these new taxes would likely be paid by American consumers and businesses either directly or in the form of higher prices.

The politics of tariffs could easily backfire on Trump if his agenda pushes up inflation and grinds down growth, making this a high stakes wager for a president eager to declare his authority over the U.S. economy.

The tariff increases would be customized for each country with the partial goal of starting trade new negotiations. But other nations might also feel the need to respond with their own tariff increases on American goods. As a result, Trump may need to find ways to reassure consumers and businesses to counteract any uncertainty caused by his tariffs.

Trump's proclamation identifies value added taxes — which are similar to sales taxes and common in the European Union — as a trade barrier to be included in any reciprocal tariff calculations. Other nations' tariff rates, subsidies to industries, regulations and possible undervaluing of currencies would be among the factors the Trump administration would use to assess tariffs.

A senior White House official, who insisted on anonymity to preview the details on a call with reporters, said that the expected tariff revenues would separately help to balance the expected $1.9 trillion budget deficit. The official also said the reviews needed for the tariffs could be completed within a matter of weeks or a few months.

The possible tax increases on imports and exports could be large compared to the comparatively modest tariffs that Trump imposed during his first term. Trade in goods between Europe and the United States nearly totaled $1.3 trillion last year, with the United States exporting $267 billion less than it imports, according to the Census Bureau.

The president has openly antagonized multiple U.S. trading partners over the past several weeks, levying tariff threats and inviting them to retaliate with import taxes of their own that could send the economy hurtling into a trade war.

Trump has put an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports due that country's role in the production of the opioid fentanyl. He also has readied tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America's two largest trading partners, that could take effect in March after being suspended for 30 days. On top of that, on Monday, he removed the exemptions from his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs. And he's mused about new tariffs on computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs.

In the case of the 25% steel and aluminum tariffs being imposed by Trump, those would be part of the reciprocal tariff calculations, a White House official told The Associated Press, insisting on anonymity to explain the administration's approach. The official did not know on whether Trump's planned tariffs on computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs would be separate from how the reciprocal tariffs are calculated, since they could have separate justifications such as national security.

The EU, Canada and Mexico have countermeasures ready to inflict economic pain on the United States in response to Trump's actions, while China has already taken retaliatory steps with its own tariffs on U.S. energy, agricultural machinery and large-engine autos as well as an antitrust investigation of Google.

The White House has argued that charging the same import taxes as other countries do would improve the fairness of trade, potentially raising revenues for the U.S. government while also enabling negotiations that could eventually improve trade.

But Trump is also making a political wager that voters can tolerate higher inflation levels. Price spikes in 2021 and 2022 severely weakened the popularity of then-President Joe Biden, with voters so frustrated by inflation eroding their buying power that they chose last year to put Trump back in the White House to address the problem. Inflation has risen since November's election, with the government reporting on Wednesday that the consumer price index is running at an annual rate of 3%.

The Trump team has decried criticism of its tariffs even as it has acknowledged the likelihood of some financial pain. It says that the tariffs have to be weighed against the possible extension and expansion of Trump's 2017 tax cuts as well as efforts to curb regulations and force savings through the spending freezes and staff reductions in billionaire adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative.

But an obstacle for this approach might be the sequencing of the various policies and the possibilities of a wider trade conflict stifling investment and hiring amid the greater inflationary pressures.

Analysts at the bank Wells Fargo said in a Thursday report that the tariffs would likely hurt growth this year, just as the extended tax cuts could help growth recover in 2026.

“Tariffs impart a modest stagflationary shock to an economy," the report said. “The U.S. economy entered 2025 with a fair amount of momentum, but we look for real GDP growth to downshift a bit over the next few quarters as the price-boosting effects of tariffs erode growth in real income, thereby weighing on growth in real consumer spending.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listens as President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listens as President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

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