美国国家公共电台 NPR After A Year In Office, Questions About Trump's Foreign Deals Go On. And On

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're nearing the first anniversary of President Trump¹'s inauguration², which means he has spent a year as president while continuing to own business interests around the world. While refusing to divest³ or set up a blind trust as ethics⁴ experts suggested, the president did promise to avoid new overseas deals. So has he kept that narrow promise? Here's NPR's Jackie Northam.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE⁵: When President Trump publicly declared at a press conference that he would do no new foreign business deals, he offered up a sign of good faith. He said he had just been offered a $2 billion deal to open a golf course in Dubai...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And I turned it down. I didn't have to turn it down 'cause as you know I have a no-conflict situation because I'm president.

NORTHAM: Trump didn't mention he already has two golf course deals in Dubai with the same developer. It's a simple omission⁶ of fact, much the same as President Trump seems to have kept his word and not personally signed any new foreign business deals over the past year. But his company is still involved with Trump-branded resorts, hotels and golf courses all over the world. His sons, Eric and Donald Jr, are working with local developers to expand some of those projects, says Carolyn Kenney with the Center for American Progress.

CAROLYN KENNEY: As the Trump organization moves forward with some of its major unfinished developments such as those in Indonesia and India, they certainly seem to be stretching the spirit of the promise to not undertake any new deals.

NORTHAM: Kenney says many of these unfinished projects do involve new contracts for infrastructure⁷ projects.

KENNEY: There's a recent example of a Chinese state-owned construction company being contracted to develop a road for Trump's Dubai development, and then also the local government in Bali plans to construct a toll⁸ road to Trump's property on the island.

NORTHAM: But foreign government involvement with Trump properties runs the risk of impacting the president's foreign-policy decision making, according to Noah Bookbinder with the government watchdog CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

NOAH BOOKBINDER: If foreign governments provide permits or easements or build roads that help the president's businesses, all of those are things that could send a signal to the president that these are foreign governments who want to get favor from him by helping⁹ his businesses.

NORTHAM: Requests for comment to the Trump organization were not returned. Bookbinder says there's no telling if any of Trump's policy decisions have or could be swayed by his business concerns, but he says the perception can be as damning as the reality. He points to China, where Trump spent more than a decade unsuccessfully trying to register trademarks¹⁰. When Trump became president, he endorsed¹¹ China's policy concerning Taiwan. Bookbinder says, shortly after, Trump was awarded valuable trademarks.

BOOKBINDER: We don't know if there was a link between the change in the president's policy choice and a benefit to his companies, but as long as he has those companies, we're going to have to question what his motivation was.

NORTHAM: And questioned the motivation of some of the countries and people Trump does business with. Take the Philippines, where there is a Trump Tower Manila. Sarah Chayes with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says a few months ago the Philippine government created a new position for Trump's local business partner in that project.

SARAH CHAYES: Trump's business partner, Filipino business partner, is now the Philippines' trade representative to the United States.

NORTHAM: Chayes says the only way to prevent conflicts would be for Trump to divest himself of all his business interests, something the president has repeatedly said he won't do. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。

4 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 omission   

n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长

参考例句：

• The omission of the girls was unfair.把女孩排除在外是不公平的。
• The omission of this chapter from the third edition was a gross oversight.第三版漏印这一章是个大疏忽。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 trademarks   

n.（注册）商标( trademark的名词复数 )；（人的行为或衣着的）特征，标记

参考例句：

• Motrin and Nuprin are trademarks of brands of ibuprofen tablets. Nuprin和Motrin均是布洛芬的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many goods in China have the trademarks of a panda. 中国的许多商品都带有熊猫的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》