The Trump family business released a voluntary ethics agreement Friday that allows it to strike deals with private foreign companies, a move that could help outside actors try to buy influence with the new administration. The so-called ethics white paper bars the Trump Organization from making deals directly with foreign governments but allows doing so with private companies abroad. That's a significant departure from President-elect Trump's first term, the AP reports. Ethics rules that Trump signed eight years ago barred both foreign government and foreign company deals. The new pledge specifies only "no new transactions with foreign governments."
Trump's company also announced it would commit to several safeguards from his first term designed to stop his private financial interests from shaping policy. That includes hiring an outside ethics adviser to vet deals. "The Trump Organization is dedicated to not just meeting but vastly exceeding its legal and ethical obligations during my father's Presidency," Eric Trump, executive vice president, said. The company has raised concerns among government ethics experts by cutting deals for hotels and golf resorts in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Ethics lawyers called the safeguards insufficient, per the New York Times, citing an example from this week. The Trump family just revealed that it will host a golf tournament in April at its Trump National Doral resort in Miami sponsored by LIV Golf, the new league financed by the Saudi government. That deal will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. "If the president receives any profits or benefits from foreign governments—not just new deals—then he is in violation of the Constitution," said Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration and critic of Trump on ethics issues. "The money flow has to stop on Jan. 20." (More Trump Organization stories.)
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