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Your guide on what Trump’s second term for Washington, Business and the World means
What can you give to a person who already has everything? The usual remedy is sort of sentimental value. In the case of Donald Trump, Qatar found the perfect mix – a jumbo at 400 million dollars for which he indicated nostalgia in advance. Trump inspected the plane at Palm Beach airport a few weeks after taking oath. Long after covering the plane accessories to Gold Plating, he will associate his next Air Force One with the leading family of Qatar. Or at least they have to hope.
In practice, Trump’s gratitude has limited the shelf life. Ask Mark Zuckerberg de Meta, whose $ 1 million gift at the inauguration of Trump and 25 million dollars to settle a defamation costume without merit did not save his business with threatened fines. With Trump, however, you should never say. Maybe Zuckerberg will find his own sentimental emolument to get Meta Relief of Trump’s antitrust lawyers.
It is not an accident that Trump’s first trip abroad is to Saudi Arabia, then to other Gulf kingdoms – as was the case during his first mandate (his recent trip to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis was obviously a short notice). The distinction between public and private has little sense at the Maison de Saud. Their country literally bears their name. At least in theory, the laws on the ethics of the United States against conflicts of interest put Washington on the other side of the spectrum in Riyadh. In reality, the rules of federal ethics are now decorative.
Former officials who were to declare gifts of more than a few hundred dollars will be surprised to learn that Trump lawyers have deemed $ 400 million who did not violate the US constitution emoluments. The same goes for the same $ Trump that Trump expressed a few days before his enslave. The 220 best investors of Trump’s purely speculative offer will attend a private dinner with him next week. It also apparently passes the legal gathering.
Some people play this game more agile than others – little better than the royal families of the Gulf. This month, an investment fund from Abu Dhabi pushed a value of $ 2 billion to the stable through the major cryptographic company of the Trump family, World Liberty Financial. This name is filled with intention. On the other side of the transaction is binance, the exchange of crypto which paid a record penalty of $ 4.3 billion for money laundering during the presidency of Joe Biden.
Trump has since suspended Biden restrictions on semiconductor exports to a group of countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Water also promised to invest $ 1.4 TN in the United States in the next decade. Neither Brussels nor Ottawa could start to match this.
The middle of America should study the content of Trump’s offers,, could it have something to say? Most of the alarm since January has focused on the spectrum of Trump’s authoritarianism, in particular on deportations and freedom of expression. But as author Anne Applebaum has convincingly asserted, the twin of autocracy is the Kleptocracy. On the latter, Trump seems much more advanced. Congress does not even pretend to monitor these conflicts of interest. Perhaps Capitol Hill is paralyzed by the extent of choices.
They also raise questions about the reasons for Trump’s foreign policy, in particular with Qatar. The little kingdom of the Gulf has made a huge amount to support Hamas by paying tens of millions of dollars in Gaza. It also welcomes the Palestinian militant group. However, the Trump family lives up to its eyeballs in the trade agreements with them.
In April, the Trump organization concluded an agreement with Qatar to build an 18 -hole golf course with luxury brand Trump villas. Qatar is also an investor in Trump Jared Kushner’s step-son and is expected to unveil at least $ 200 billion in American investments this week. Although the big pieces of these title numbers can be a mirage, non -heritage systems like Canada cannot work in this way. This gives a huge advantage to non-democracies by negotiating with Trump.
These transactions are also difficult to reconcile with the promise of Trump of “America first”. If Qatar is getting closer to its free jumbo jet, the so-called palace in Trump’s sky would be at the expense of Boeing, who is under contract to replenish the aging fleet of the Air Force One. How will Trump touches of imminent tours and seaside resorts serve the economic or diplomatic interests of America? Which is open to the debate. However, the financial boost to Trump and his family is clear for everyone. The suspicion arises that the real program of the American president is Trump first. The rest is a sleight of hand.
edward.luce@ft.com
Edward Luce’s book, “Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet” is now released
