New details from Donald Trump’s tax records show not only that he spent a decade pursuing business projects in China, but also that the president of the United States has a Chinese bank account that wasn’t listed on his public financial disclosures.
According to The New York Times, “Mr. 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.”
The report notes that China is one of just three foreign countries – in addition to Britain and Ireland – where Trump has a bank account. The account, which is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., paid nearly $200,000 in Chinese taxes.
In other words, Trump appears to pay more in taxes to China than he does to the United States.
More from The New York Times:
And it turns out that China is one of only three foreign nations — the others are Britain and Ireland — where Mr. Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president’s tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times. The foreign accounts do not show up on Mr. Trump’s public financial disclosures, where he must list personal assets, because they are held under corporate names. The identities of the financial institutions are not clear.
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.
The tax records do not include details on how much money may have passed through the overseas accounts, though the Internal Revenue Service does require filers to report the portion of their income derived from other countries. The British and Irish accounts are held by companies that operate Mr. Trump’s golf courses in Scotland and Ireland, which regularly report millions of dollars in revenue from those countries. Trump International Hotels Management reported just a few thousand dollars from China.
Trump is the master of projection
Donald Trump is reportedly planning to target Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, in this week’s presidential debate. Specifically, Trump plans to raise questions over the Biden family’s alleged links to China.
Clearly, this is a desperate Hail Mary for the Trump campaign as it finds itself behind with just two weeks until Election Day. But it’s also just another example of Trump projecting.
As The New York Times reported on Tuesday, it is Donald Trump who has questionable financial ties to China – and other countries, like Russia – that he isn’t being transparent about.
The American people deserve to know where Donald Trump puts his money and to which countries he’s indebted – especially since he’s made it clear over the past four years that his loyalties lie outside the United States.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.