Trump Records Shed New Light on Chinese Business Pursuits - The New York Times

As he raises questions about his opponent’s standing with China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities there, including a previously unknown bank account.

Biden’s son Hunter “opened a bank account” with a Chinese businessman, part of what it said were his numerous connections to “foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe.”.

Trump’s own business history is filled with overseas financial deals, and some have involved the Chinese state.

He spent a decade unsuccessfully pursuing projects in China, operating an office there during his first run for president and forging a partnership with a major government-controlled company.

Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president’s tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times.

The Chinese account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., which the tax records show paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015.

Trump International Hotels Management reported just a few thousand dollars from China.

In response to questions from The Times, Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes” associated with efforts to do business there.

He said the company had opened the account after establishing an office in China “to explore the potential for hotel deals in Asia.”.

“No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,” Mr.

“Though the bank account remains open, it has never been used for any other purpose.”.

Garten would not identify the bank in China where the account is held.

Trump has also sought to tar his opponent with overblown or unsubstantiated assertions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings there while his father was in office.

(The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump also won Chinese trademark approvals for her personal business after she joined the White House staff.).

Trump has spent trying to land business in China.

Trump’s plans in China have been largely driven by a different company, Trump International Hotels Management — the one with a Chinese bank account.

The company has direct ownership of THC China Development, but is also involved in management of other Trump-branded properties around the world, and it is not possible to discern from its tax records how much of its financial activity is China-related.

Garten would not comment on the specific amount cited by Bloomberg, but said that the contract buyout represented a “significant portion” of the company’s revenue and that the remaining money was not related to China.

agents asking about the company behind the purchases, which he said had used his office address in incorporation papers without his knowledge.

Trump’s tax records show that he reported a capital gain of at least $5.6 million from the penthouse sale in 2017, his first year as president