On Tuesday, as part of their series on President Donald Trump's tax returns, The New York Timesrevealed that the president has held a previously unknown bank account in China, as he spent years pursuing business deals in the country.
"Mr. Trump’s own business history is filled with overseas financial deals, and some have involved the Chinese state," reported Mike McIntire, Russ Buettner, and Susanne Craig. "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."
"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," continued the report. "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."
Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten said that Trump "opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes" required to do business in the region.
The president has sought throughout the campaign to claim that Joe Biden is soft on China and is compromised on foreign policy by his family's supposed business interests there.