Aftermath of Trump Victory

[Akshay_Fenix]

Trump turned out to be a kejriwal.
What a disappointment.

 

[IndianHawk]

Trump turned out to be a kejriwal.
What a disappointment.

It's still early days with trumpanzi. Look at his Syria policy out of nowhere he bombs them sending Putin into frenzy. On north Korea he is pushing his armaada forward making a mockery of china .

One more terrorists attack on US soil and he might loose it on pakistan. His instability is quite interesting.

 

[ezsasa]

I am starting to think it is true that, fundamental psychology of trump is to try and appease any person sitting infront of him. This came from Trump's biographer.

Like for example if trump has back to back meetings with Modi and Nawaz sharif. Both Modi and NZ will come out of the meeting feeling glad that trump said all the right things they want to hear.

If i am right, we shouldn't be surprised to see more contradicting stands in the future.

 

[dhananjay1]

Trump turned out to be a kejriwal.
What a disappointment.

There is nothing surprising in this. US has been supporting Pakistan since 1950s, regardless of whatever administration is in power. It's their long term geopolitical strategy. Democracy is just a circus to entertain people who think their vote is somehow relevant. On the things that matter, things related to real power, Trump would largely follow what his predecessors have done in the past.

 

[FactsPlease]

And that's the logic of the president of strongest country on earth: you are a currency manipulator or not depends on you got something he need, not any real proof you did manipulate currency or not!!

So make people curious what's next: definition jeopardizing freedom of navigation or not depends on... ... country ignoring others' sovereignty depends on... ...
Try to imagine how and what those SEA countries will think about this...

 

[Project Dharma]

Indian-owned store in Charlotte, N.C. was set afire, a rock thrown through the window and a racist note left behind. It read, in part: "We need to get rid of Muslims, Indians and all immigrants." It was signed, "White America."Days later, police arrested a suspect. He was an African-American man

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/20/what-is-fueling-fake-hate-crimes-across-u-s.html

@pmaitra @Razor

 

[roma]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...trump-administration/articleshow/58314411.cms

Indian-American Surgeon General asked to step down by Donald Trump administration

Interesting isnt it .... first Preet Bhara was sacked, well actually, before that Nikki Haley was transferred out from Gov of S Carolina to UN which is from and internal to an external and less important job and now this guy who was doing well has to go too and his deputy takes over ,, is a bit of an insult

i wont be surprised to hear some news next about Bobby Jindal ....maybe transferred os asked to resign ?

 

[Project Dharma]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...trump-administration/articleshow/58314411.cms

Indian-American Surgeon General asked to step down by Donald Trump administration

Interesting isnt it .... first Preet Bhara was sacked, well actually, before that Nikki Haley was transferred out from Gov of S Carolina to UN which is from and internal to an external and less important job and now this guy who was doing well has to go too and his deputy takes over ,, is a bit of an insult

i wont be surprised to hear some news next about Bobby Jindal ....maybe transferred os asked to resign ?

I really don't think it is targetted at Indians, might be because of his pro abortion stand

 

[Razor]

Indian-owned store in Charlotte, N.C. was set afire, a rock thrown through the window and a racist note left behind. It read, in part: "We need to get rid of Muslims, Indians and all immigrants." It was signed, "White America."Days later, police arrested a suspect. He was an African-American man

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/20/what-is-fueling-fake-hate-crimes-across-u-s.html

@pmaitra @Razor

I wonder if there is a foreign hand in this, you know like say Russia?

America does this in russia and plenty of other countries, so I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Razor]

And that's the logic of the president of strongest country on earth: you are a currency manipulator or not depends on you got something he need, not any real proof you did manipulate currency or not!!

So make people curious what's next: definition jeopardizing freedom of navigation or not depends on... ... country ignoring others' sovereignty depends on... ...
Try to imagine how and what those SEA countries will think about this...

View attachment 15167

Didn't this guy say that he would name China a currency manipulator on the first day??

 

[Razor]

@Project Dharma @pmaitra

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704221052888171-ivanka-trump-popularity-in-china/

I remember Trump saying stuff like "Chinese are not our friends" and that he'd be "tough" on China.



Eleven Jingping must be quite the charming guy.

The Chinese government has recently given provisional approval to Ivanka Trump's company for three new trademarks for jewelry, spa services and ladies' bags.

The First Daughter's company already holds 16 fully registered trademarks in the country. And it received provisional approval for two other bag trademarks on February 20 and March 6.

The news came on April 6, the very same day she and her husband Jared Kushner dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

The presence of Ivanka and Kushner at the dinner of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was not just an official duty.

According to some reports there were commercial questions which were also on the table. Earlier, the company of Donald Trump's son-in-law, who is also a part-time senior adviser to the president, tried to sell a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue in New York to Chinese investors.

The transaction cost was estimated at $400 million. However, at the end of March, the negotiations stopped.

Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump’s popularity is soaring in China. Thousands of Chinese women are undergoing plastic surgery to look like her. Her name is used for the naming of various market products – from cosmetics and food additives to wallpaper.


For the residents of China, Ivanka is not only a beautiful and successful business lady but also a person who has maintained an important connection with her father and respect for him.

Many have already paid attention to the influence that Ivanka Trump has had on her father. Some openly say that it is she who plays the role of the first lady of the US and not Melania Trump.

Sinologist Mikhail Korostikov commented to Sputnik China saying that both Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner act as special envoys of the White House in tackling delicate issues in the bilateral relationship with China's top officials.

Although many in the US view such an intertwinement of political and business ties as inadmissible, some see Ivanka’s popularity in China as a chance for improving bilateral relations between the two countries.

The leading analyst of the management company Horizon, Vladimir Rozhankovsky, told Sputnik that the “Chinese authorities will do anything to avoid the US from declaring China, for example, a currency manipulator and to begin evacuating American business from the country.”

 

[FactsPlease]

Didn't this guy say that he would name China a currency manipulator on the first day??

Just Google it and you find the reports. No need for me to post sources.
He is indeed unpredictable - or, put another way, can say any words even conflicting himself at face. It's really an interesting time to see what he will do (and NOT able to do) to USA and the world.

 

[amoy]

How is Trump going to make it with a widening budget deficit? on basis that -
i. the US is already hugely indebted.
ii. he pledges to push for a massive infrastructure revamp on the other hand
iii. the cut is likely to trigger tax competition among major industrial powers to curb capital outflow.

Maybe this plan would either be a negotiating position or another IBM (international big mouth).

========================================

Trump just promised the biggest tax cut in history

Trump (planned)
The plan Trump put forward as a candidate would reduce revenues by 2.6 percent of GDP, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. That would be less than the cuts that Truman saw through in 1945 as well as those that Reagan enacted in 1981, at least initially.

The president has said he will give more information about his plans with respect to taxes on Wednesday, although he seems to be maintaining at least one important feature of the earlier proposal. Trump has decided to reduce the rate on corporate income from 35 percent to 15 percent, The Post reported, a change that would reduce collections by about $2.4 trillion over a decade.

 

[amoy]

China, US Reach Agreement on Beef, Poultry and Natural Gas
China and US reach agreement on beef, poultry and liquefied natural gas.

| May 12, 2017, at 5:25 a.m.

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2003 file photo, a Chinese shopkeeper stands behind a row of beef products at an open air market in Beijing, China. China will finally open its borders to U.S. beef while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to hitting the American market as part of a U.S.-China trade agreement. Trump administration officials hailed the deal as a significant step in their efforts to boost U.S. exports and even America's trade gap with the world's second-largest economy.(AP Photo/File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) — China will finally open its borders to U.S. beef while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to hitting the American market as part of a U.S.-China trade agreement.

Trump administration officials hailed the deal as a significant step in their efforts to boost U.S. exports and narrow America's trade gap with the world's second-largest economy.

The United States would also allow U.S. companies to ship liquefied natural gas to China as part of the bilateral agreement reached following President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. The agreement covers a number of long-standing barriers in areas ranging from agriculture to energy to the operation of American financial firms in China.

------------------------------------EXCERPTS----------------------------------

Under the agreement, the United States would welcome Chinese companies negotiating agreements to purchase U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas. The Energy Department has already authorized the shipment of 19.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports to China and other interested countries, the Commerce Department said.

A number of U.S. companies are seeking permits to build facilities to process liquefied gas, which would allow America to become a net exporter of gas, something it has not been since the 1950s. China is attempting to turn to natural gas as a way to reduce its dependence on coal and combat the country's extensive air pollution. The move would allow China to diversify its supply and provide a significant market for American suppliers — though the expansion could boost prices for U.S. consumers.

Ross downplayed the impact, pointing to the decline in natural gas prices. "If you look at it on a historical basis, there's plenty of room to go back up," he said. "It's not as though this is going to wreck anybody's pocketbook."

The agreement would also ease import restrictions on agricultural goods, including ending China's restrictions on beef imports. China imposed a ban on American beef in 2003 after a case of mad-cow disease, a ban that has remained in place despite extensive efforts by the Bush and Obama administrations to get it removed.


In exchange, the U.S. would allow the sale of cooked Chinese poultry — a move Ross said could be done safely. "We do not intend to endanger anybody's health or safety in the U.S.," he said.

The agreement would also streamline the evaluation of pending U.S. biotechnology product applications; pave the way for allowing American-owned suppliers of electronic payment services to begin the licensing processes in China; and facilitate the entrance of Chinese banks into the U.S. banking market, among other measures.

The agreement grew out of negotiations both countries agreed to start after Trump's meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with the Chinese president. The areas dealt with in the initial agreement represent export opportunities that American companies have long sought.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Trump's U-Turn on Israel

US SOURCE: TRUMP WILL ASK NETANYAHU TO CURB WEST BANK SETTLEMENT ACTIVITY
President "has not abandoned the two-state solution," senior White House official says; Western Wall visit without Israeli officials.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/US...als-Israel-curbing-settlement-activity-492157



‘TRUMP RULES OUT MOVING US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM FOR NOW’
Friedman: US president won’t unveil diplomatic plan.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Report-Trump-nixes-plan-to-move-US-embassy-to-Jerusalem-492050



POST POLL: PRESIDENT’S POPULARITY PLUMMETING AMONG ISRAELI JEWS

Only 56% of Jewish Israelis said they considered the Trump administration more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian, down from 79% on January 11.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Po...pularity-plummeting-among-Israeli-Jews-492184

 

[pmaitra]

And that's the logic of the president of strongest country on earth: you are a currency manipulator or not depends on you got something he need, not any real proof you did manipulate currency or not!!

So make people curious what's next: definition jeopardizing freedom of navigation or not depends on... ... country ignoring others' sovereignty depends on... ...
Try to imagine how and what those SEA countries will think about this...

View attachment 15167

It might not just be Trump. Many US companies have close trade relations with PRC, as does Trump. Walmart comes to mind. It is to be seen how much he can drain the swamp or get drained by the swamp.

Indian-owned store in Charlotte, N.C. was set afire, a rock thrown through the window and a racist note left behind. It read, in part: "We need to get rid of Muslims, Indians and all immigrants." It was signed, "White America."Days later, police arrested a suspect. He was an African-American man

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/20/what-is-fueling-fake-hate-crimes-across-u-s.html

@pmaitra @Razor

Yes, I read that. Also, a white guy started a fundraiser to help him restart his business, and many white people donated.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...trump-administration/articleshow/58314411.cms

Indian-American Surgeon General asked to step down by Donald Trump administration

Interesting isnt it .... first Preet Bhara was sacked, well actually, before that Nikki Haley was transferred out from Gov of S Carolina to UN which is from and internal to an external and less important job and now this guy who was doing well has to go too and his deputy takes over ,, is a bit of an insult

i wont be surprised to hear some news next about Bobby Jindal ....maybe transferred os asked to resign ?

Regarding the SG, I second @Project Dharma. Coming to Nikki Haley, she took the instructions from the RNC insiders and backed a person whom Trump would call "Little Marco." Trump doesn't like her very much, but he probably likes her more than "Litttle Marco." This is partly speculation.

I wonder if there is a foreign hand in this, you know like say Russia?

America does this in russia and plenty of other countries, so I wouldn't be surprised.

There are plenty of wackos in the US to cause trouble. You will find lots of wackos or wacky things happening in Waco, TX (David Koresh, Fertilizer Plant Explosion, Biker Gang Shootout).

 

[amoy]

Trump adm. has brought about more Chinese investment to make America great again. America first, China second.

=== === ===

Surging Chinese investment brings more jobs to local Americans

For Rachel McGaw, an office manager who lives in a U.S. rust-belt town of Illinois, working for a Chinese company is more rewarding than a U.S. one.

"I enjoy working here. I like my salary, I like my hours. I feel more valued because the company takes me and my feeling and my family into consideration," said the employee at Wanxiang New Energy, the solar division of Wanxiang America Corporation.

MORE INVESTMENT MORE JOBS

McGaw is just one of thousands of local workers employed at Wanxiang who would otherwise be jobless.

The corporation entered the U.S. market in 1994, the year General Motors went to China to start their operations in China.

It now has 28-plus plants, runs in more than 20 sates in the United States, and employs more than 18,000 people. Only about 10 employees are dispatched from China, and the rest are all local.

Over the years, Wanxiang has acquired many firms on the brink of bankruptcy, Ni Pin, president of Wanxiang America, said, "we saved a lot of jobs."

While China and job losses are discussed as one and the same by certain parties on Capitol Hill, the reality could not be more different. Chinese companies are opening new plants and hiring people in America -- a scenario largely absent from the rhetoric of some U.S. politicians.

Chinese companies now employ more than 140,000 Americans, according to the latest report released by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) and Rhodium Group.

Already on a steep growth trajectory for the past five years, Chinese investment in the United States jumped to 46 billion U.S. dollars last year, a 200-percent increase from the previous record of 15 billion dollars set in 2015, the newly updated report on China's U.S. investments showed.

In addition, the report named "New Neighbors 2017" showed that by the end of 2016, 425 out of 435 Congressional Districts hosted Chinese-owned companies.

In 2016, Chinese investors further expanded and deepened their footprint in the United Sates, according to a separate report released on Wednesday by NCUSCR and Rhodium Group.

U.S. coastal states, such as New York and California were still the major beneficiaries of Chinese investment, while South and Midwest states also received significant Chinese investment last year.

In New York, the Alexander Hamilton Bridge that crosses the Harlem river has gone through a major widening and rehabilitating project done by China Construction America. The 550-foot-long steel arch main bridge now carries 10 lanes of traffic instead of eight, with its support piers and foundations reinforced and new drainage installed.

The Chinese construction company started its business in the United States in 2000 with only 12 employees and less than 10 million dollars of annual revenue.

In 2016, it employed around 2,000 workers, 98 percent of whom are Americans. Its revenue jumped to 2 billion dollars.

In Moraine, Ohio, more than 2,000 people are working at a nearly 470,000-square-meter glass fabrication factory housed in General Motors' former assembly plant.

The plant used to employ thousands of people making SUVs and trucks, but was closed in 2008 as a financial crisis wiped out jobs across the industry.

Fuyao is one of the world's largest auto glass makers and has a 22-percent market share in the United States. Its investment in Moraine is the largest Chinese investment in Ohio history and the eighth-largest direct foreign investment in the United States over the last decade.

As it expands its market in the country, it will create more manufacturing jobs. And these jobs are certainly needed in the Midwest.

REBIRTH OF COMMUNITY

Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.- China Relations, was quite emotional when recalling the factory's grand opening.

He said it signaled the rebirth of a community and at the moment he knew he had glimpsed "the promised land of a constructive U.S. -China relations."

Chinese companies in the United States are bridging bilateral economic ties and cultural exchanges in their own ways.

In addition to creating job opportunities for local Americans, Wanxiang also makes sure that every penny the company makes in the United Sates will be invested into local community.

"In our company there are four stakeholders, shareholder, employee, customer and local community," said Ni.

He said Wanxiang has always embraced globalization and that the company has contributed immensely to prosperity of local communities.

Drawing on Wanxiang's experience, Ni said globalization brings more opportunities for growth and development in local communities, rather than damaging local economy as some have feared.

Fuyao, on the other hand, pair Chinese employees with American employees for them to learn languages and exchange ideas and techniques. The company also invited American employees to visit its plants in China.

"Bilateral investment is a cultural as well as economic bridge between countries because it makes commerce a platform for the exchange of ideas," said Orlins on Wednesday at an event for the release of the report named "Two-Way Street: 2017 Update U.S. - China direct Investment Trends."

"What used to be a one-way street -- with money flowing predominantly from the United States to China -- is now a two-way highway with tens of billions of dollars in annual FDI flowing in each direction," said the report.

According to the report, the cumulative value of U.S. FDI transactions in China reached over 240 billion dollars by the end of 2016, while the cumulative Chinese FDI in the U.S. totaled 110 billion dollars in the same period.

 

[airtel]

$110 Billion Weapons Sale to Saudis Has Jared Kushner’s Personal Touch
By MARK LANDLER, ERIC SCHMITT and MATT APUZZO
7-9 minutes
WASHINGTON — On the afternoon of May 1, President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, welcomed a high-level delegation of Saudis to a gilded reception room next door to the White House and delivered a brisk pep talk: “Let’s get this done today.”

Mr. Kushner was referring to a $100 billion-plus arms deal that the administration hoped to seal with Saudi Arabia in time to announce it during Mr. Trump’s visit to the kingdom this weekend. The two sides discussed a shopping list that included planes, ships and precision-guided bombs. Then an American official raised the idea of the Saudis’ buying a sophisticated radar system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.

Sensing that the cost might be a problem, several administration officials said, Mr. Kushner picked up the phone and called Marillyn A. Hewson — the chief executive of Lockheed Martin, which makes the radar system — and asked her whether she could cut the price. As his guests watched slack-jawed, Ms. Hewson told him she would look into it, officials said.

Mr. Kushner’s personal intervention in the arms sale is further evidence of the Trump White House’s readiness to dispense with custom in favor of informal, hands-on deal making. It also offers a window into how the administration hopes to change America’s position in the Middle East, emphasizing hard power and haggling over traditional diplomacy.

The Trump administration is expected to frame the deal, worth about $110 billion over 10 years, as a symbol of America’s renewed commitment to security in the Persian Gulf. But former officials pointed out that President Barack Obama, whose arms sales to Saudi Arabia totaled $115 billion, had already approved several of the weapons in the package.

“Both sides have an incentive to herald this as a new era in Gulf cooperation,” said Derek H. Chollet, who served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs under Mr. Obama. “I see this as largely continuity.”

What has changed, Mr. Chollet said, is that the House of Saud is now dealing directly with a member of the Trump family. “It’s quite normal for them to sit down with the son-in-law of a president and do a deal,” he said. “It’s more normal for them than any previous administration.”

The White House and Lockheed declined to comment on the call between Mr. Kushner and Ms. Hewson, or on the broader arms sale.

While Mr. Kushner’s middle-of-the-meeting call to a military contractor was unorthodox, current and former officials said, it did not appear to raise legal issues. Lockheed is the sole manufacturer of the antimissile system, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad. Instead, the episode was reminiscent of Lockheed’s decision in February to cut the price of F-35 fighter jets it was selling to the Pentagon after Mr. Trump complained to Ms. Hewson that the planes were too expensive.

Mr. Kushner, White House officials said, began building ties to members of the Saudi royal family during the transition. He was at the table when his father-in-law hosted the deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, at a lunch in the State Dining Room in March. And he offered a strategic overview of the Saudi-American relationship at the meeting this month, according to an agenda obtained by The New York Times.

But officials emphasized that Mr. Kushner’s work on the deal was part of a governmentwide effort that includes the State Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council.

They also said the arms sale would be only one element of Mr. Trump’s busy two-day stop in Saudi Arabia, which will also include a meeting with King Salman at the royal court, a conference with Persian Gulf allies, a broader summit meeting with the leaders of Muslim countries, and a visit to a new center dedicated to combating terrorism and extremism.

The showcase event will be a speech in which the officials said Mr. Trump would seek to unify the Muslim world against the scourge of extremism. Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior policy adviser, is writing the speech, which officials said would serve as an answer to the landmark address to the Islamic world that Mr. Obama gave in Cairo in 2009.

White House officials have consulted Mr. Obama’s speech and predicted a starkly different tone from Mr. Trump. His goal, they said, will be to unify America’s allies around a common set of objectives, including a harder line against Iran and a pledge to share the security burden in the region. The speech will not include any apology for America’s role.

After a strained relationship with Mr. Obama, Saudi officials have expressed delight at Mr. Trump’s tough rhetoric on Iran. This White House is viewed as more sympathetic to the military campaign that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are carrying out against the Houthis, Iranian-backed rebels who are waging an insurgency in neighboring Yemen.

The Obama administration put a hold on precision-guided munitions it had agreed to sell the Saudis out of fear that they would be used to bomb civilians in Yemen. The Trump administration has freed up those weapons, which are part of the $110 billion package.

The package also includes “maritime assets,” meaning ships, so the Saudis can assume more of the burden of policing the Persian Gulf and Red Sea against Iranian aggression. It does not include high-end items like the advanced F-35 fighter, whose sale to Saudi Arabia would alarm Israel.

Mr. Trump is not expected to raise human rights concerns with the Saudis, in keeping with his approach to strongmen in Turkey, Egypt, China and the Philippines. The president, his aides said, does not believe the United States gets results by lecturing other countries.

Given that, and the big-ticket arms sale, most analysts and former officials predicted that Mr. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia would be a success. It could end up being the highlight of his nine-day, four-country tour, particularly since he will be going later to a NATO summit meeting in Brussels, where the other attendees will watch for evidence that he still wants to mothball the alliance.

Even in Israel, where Mr. Trump is likely to be welcomed with open arms, tensions have surfaced over his sharing classified Israeli intelligence during a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, and a smaller flap over the political status of the Western Wall.

Still, the Saudi visit is not without risk. Mr. Obama made Riyadh, the Saudi capital, his first stop in the Middle East in June 2009, hoping to enlist the Saudis in a new Israeli-Palestinian peace effort. King Salman’s predecessor, King Abdullah, rebuffed the young president.

For now, the White House is not abandoning the Iran nuclear agreement, which is reviled in Saudi Arabia. Though experts say the Saudis understand the administration’s reluctance to act precipitously, some critics worry that it will make Mr. Trump more eager to accommodate the Saudis in other areas, like their campaign in Yemen.

“We’d been saying for two years that this is not a conflict you’re going to win militarily,” said Jeffrey Prescott, a senior director for Iran, Iraq, Syria and Gulf nations on Mr. Obama’s National Security Council. “We had been trying to use the leverage we had to get the Saudis and Emiratis to the table to negotiate.”

“One of the things to look at,” Mr. Prescott added, “is whether we’re getting into someone else’s conflict.”



https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/...kushner-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-lockheed.html?

 

[amoy]

Money knows no boundary! Americans and Chinese bhai bhai.

=== === ===

Jared Kushner's family criticised for touting cash-for-visas scheme in China
Nicole Kushner Meyer, sister of adviser to Donald Trump, mentions his standing while wooing investors into investments in return for US green cards

Donald Trump’s administration is facing new questions about conflicts of interest after Jared Kushner’s family staged events in China to woo wealthy investors into luxury developments, with the prospect of receiving US green cards in return.

On Saturday, Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, took to the stage at an event at Beijing’s Ritz-Carlton hotel to urge Chinese investors to back One Journal Square, two skyscrapers currently being built in New Jersey.

Members of the audience of 100 were reportedly told that if they stumped up at least half a million dollars for the project they could become US residents under a controversial cash-for-residency program that is known in China as the “golden visa”.

CNN reported that Meyer touted Jared Kushner’s position in the White House. “In 2008, my brother Jared Kushner joined the family company as CEO, and recently moved to Washington to join the administration,” she said.

According to the New York Times, which was subsequently ejected from the seminar along with the Washington Post, Meyer told investors: “[This project] means a lot to me and my entire family”.

A slide shown during the pitch identified Trump as a “key decision maker” in the controversial EB-5 immigrant investor program, for which there has been an explosion of Chinese applications in recent years.

“Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States,” the event’s brochure claimed, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story.

Meyer pointed out that her brother had left the family firm in January to join the Trump White House, but the Kushner family’s attempt to woo Chinese investors drew immediate criticism in the US. Washington insiders say Jared Kushner has played a central role in the recent warming of ties between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping and has become a key point of contact for China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai.

Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer during George W Bush’s administration, told the Washington Post the bid to seduce Chinese investors was “incredibly stupid and highly inappropriate”. “They clearly imply that the Kushners are going to make sure you get your visa … Of course [Chinese investors are] going to want to invest.”

Noah Bookbinder, the head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the New York Times the sales offensive was “highly problematic” and could be interpreted as selling access to Jared Kushner.

Organisers of this week’s events in China appeared uncomfortable with media scrutiny. A man accompanying Meyer shouted “Please leave us alone!” when a reporter from the New York Times asked her to comment on Saturday.

According to the Washington Post, its reporter’s phone was grabbed by event organisers who blocked attempts to interview investors and ordered reporters to leave. “This is not the story we want,” a PR representative was quoted as saying.

Risa Hiller, a spokeswoman for Jared Kushner, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Similar events at five-star hotels were scheduled to follow in at least three other Chinese cities: Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The sessions were organised by Kushner Companies – the family real estate firm to which Jared Kushner belonged until he joined Trump’s administration this year – in association with a Chinese emigration company called Qiaowai.

On Sunday afternoon investors were due to gather at the Four Seasons hotel in Shanghai’s glamorous former French concession, according to one Shanghai-based consultant for Qiaowai. “Invitation is free of charge,” the consultant told the Guardian. “If you offer to invest in the project, then you would sign a contract and have certain fees to pay.”

Next weekend events about the development, which is also known as Kushner 1, are due to be held in southern China: at the InterContinental in Shenzhen on 13 May, and at the Four Seasons hotel in Guangzhou on 14 May. “Seats are limited. Please book soon!” reads an online advertisement.

It is not clear whether Kushner’s sister will also speak at those sessions but Qiaowai’s website said a number of “VIP guests” would be present including Ben Curtiss, the vice-president of Kushner Companies. Investors would have “opportunities to speak with these distinguished guests”, Qiaowai’s website promised.

 

[ezsasa]

Remember all the nonsense about Michelle Obama wearing a headscarf on a visit to Saudi.

Looks like that rule does not apply to trump delegation, no American females are wearing headscarf infront of Saudi king.

Is it that Obama was spineless to bend over for the Saudis ?

Or

Saudis have different rules based on the president.