Trump’s business partner will be Manila’s man in Washington

Among the conflict-of-interest questions swirling around U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s global business interests, Trump Tower at Century City in Manila’s financial district stands out.

Century Properties Group Inc. of Manila, the company behind the USD150 million tower that’s set to open next year, paid as much as $5 million to use the Trump name, in a licensing agreement that’s common for the president-elect. Trump has at least 10 similar licensing deals around the world, each of which might complicate his administration’s international diplomacy, according to ethics specialists.

But in Manila, there’s an extra connection: Century Properties’ chief executive and controlling stakeholder, Jose E.B. Antonio, was appointed last month to serve as a special government envoy to the U.S. for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has vowed to expel American troops from his country and ranted against President Barack Obama. Antonio says he sees no conflict between his public role and private partnership.

“My role is to enlarge the relationship between the two countries,” he said in an interview. Of his business tie to Trump, he said: “I guess it would be an asset.”

Antonio told Bloomberg News that he visited Trump Tower in New York days after the U.S. election; he didn’t speak to the president-elect, Antonio said, but he saw Trump talking with potential appointees. Asked about his account, Hope Hicks, a Trump spokeswoman said: “They did not meet.”

Regardless, Antonio’s dual roles as private business partner and official government envoy underscore the global scale of the potential conflicts facing Trump and his family even before he’s sworn in as the 45th president. Questions have been raised in two instances: Trump took a break from transition discussions to meet with three business partners who are building Trump-
branded towers in India, according to media reports. And a spokesman for Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Monday denied a report in La Nacion newspaper that Trump had asked for help with permits for a Buenos Aires real-estate project during a post-election call with Macri.

Trump rejected concerns about his potential conflicts of interest. “Prior to the election it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world,” he posted on Twitter Monday night. “Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!”

Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump aide, told reporters Monday that while Trump’s widespread business interests mean “we’re in unprecedented times,” he’s getting advice from “various lawyers, accountants and advisers telling him what he can and can’t do.”

“I’m very confident he is not breaking any laws,” Conway said. Bloomberg