In mid-April, as much of the world struggled to come to terms with Donald Trump’s trade war, The Wall Street Journal reported on a variety of strategies that countries were exploring to stave off the president’s tariffs. The article noted in passing that Vietnam, in particular, was so concerned about potential economic punishment that the country “accelerated the approvals for a $1.5 billion Trump resort.”
That one partial sentence in the sixth paragraph of a longer article stood out in large part because of its implications: If the Journal was correct, it suggested that at least some officials abroad were working from the assumption that the American president is corrupt and that doing favors for his family business would translate into favorable treatment from his administration.
A month later, The New York Times published a detailed examination of Vietnam’s efforts, which went further than the Journal’s report even suggested.
To fast-track the Trump development, Vietnam has ignored its own laws, legal experts said, granting concessions more generous than what even the most connected locals receive. Vietnamese officials, in a letter obtained by The New York Times, explicitly stated that the project required special support from the top ranks of the Vietnamese government because it was ‘receiving special attention from the Trump administration and President Donald Trump personally.’
There’s nothing subtle about any of this. As the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, went on to explain, Vietnamese officials are under intense pressure to reach a trade agreement with Trump to avoid economically costly tariffs. Simultaneously, Vietnamese officials are also scrambling to approve projects sought by Trump’s family business — an entity the president personally profits from.
The policy process, in other words, appears to have been warped by corrupt considerations.
In an official statement to the Times, the White House said, “All of the president’s trade discussions are totally unrelated to the Trump Organization.” And while officials might even believe that, the article went on to note that “as the deal-making accelerates and collides with U.S. threats to free trade, the line between Trump the president and Trump the tycoon is now seen by diplomats, trade officials and corporations worldwide as so obviously blurred that governments feel more compelled than ever to favor anything Trump-related.” Vietnam’s government, the Times added, “sees Mr. Trump’s administration and the Trump Organization as one.” What’s more, there’s no reason to see Vietnam’s fast-track approval for the Trump Organization’s $1.5 billion golf community in isolation: Reuters reported last week on the American president’s family business and a local partner in Vietnam also “exploring plans to build a skyscraper in Vietnam’s business hub of Ho Chi Minh City.” It led The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank to describe the developments as part of “a transparent attempt to buy Trump’s favor while it tries to persuade him to drop tariffs he imposed against the country.” Whether the White House will play its part in this scheme and show Vietnam favorable treatment remains to be seen. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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