Wednesday, December 9, 2015

What Does Trump Making Money In Muslim Countries Have To Do With His Ban

CNN Money: Donald Trump Makes Millions in Muslim Countries

Image: CNN Money: Donald Trump Makes Millions in Muslim CountriesDonald Trump (Getty)
By F McGuire   |   Wednesday, 09 Dec 2015 08:39 AM
Donald Trump is pushing to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. but the Republican presidential candidate is reportedly making millions from business deals in countries where Islam is the main religion.

“In his latest personal financial disclosure required by all candidates, and on his web site, Trump lists various interests in the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Turkey, and two new ventures in Indonesia,” CNN Moneyreported.

Here's what he declared, according to CNN Money, in predominately Muslim countries:

Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

“The Trump Organization has plans for two golf resorts in the Arab emirate of Dubai. In the filing, Trump lists what is described as a "management deal with Damac Crescent Properties" and states the underlying asset "value is not readily ascertainable." He lists no income. Neither resort has opened, although one is due to be completed this year,” CNN Money reported.

Baku, Azerbaijan 
In November 2014, Trump announced a partnership to open a luxury hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. In the filing, Trump lists income of $2.5 million for "management fees" for the Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku, CNN Money reported.

Istanbul, Turkey 
“Trump Towers, Sisli is a 40-story residential tower in Istanbul, Turkey. On his web site, Trump makes it clear he does not own the development, but the owners have licensed his name. In his filing, Trump lists royalty income of $1 million to $5 million. It's standard in the hotel business for brands to license their names for use by local owners,” CNN Money reported.

Indonesia 
Trump has announced plans for an ultra-luxury resort in Bali and a golf course in West Java, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, one of Trump's Middle Eastern business partners is drawing a line between the presidential candidate and his company, Bloombergreported.

Damac Properties Dubai Co., which is building two Trump-branded golf courses outside of Dubai, distanced itself from the developer, who said the U.S. should ban Muslims from entering the country in the wake of a mass shooting that officials say was an act of terrorism by a radicalized Muslim couple.

“We would like to stress that our agreement is with the Trump Organization as one of the premium golf course operators in the world ,” Damac said in a statement. “As such, we would not comment further on Mr. Trump’s personal or political agenda, nor comment on the internal American political debate scene.”

Trump’s comments will put pressure on executives in the Middle East to decide whether they can do business with the New York property mogul, who licenses his name for use in projects around the world. His website touts an office and residential development in Istanbul, and retailers in the United Arab Emirates sell Trump-branded home furnishings and furniture.

Some executives began speaking out against him even before this week’s controversy. Billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, who described Trump as “a breath of fresh air among usual suspects” in August, retracted his comments. “I was wrong about Donald Trump and I don’t mind admitting it,” the Dubai owner of hotels wrote in The National newspaper on Nov. 25.
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But others are taking a hard-line approach.

Dubai-based Lifestyle said it was pulling Trump-branded products from its chain of home decor stores across the region, because it "values and respects the sentiments of all its customers."

"In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the US media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home decor range," Lifestyle chief executive Sachin Mundhwa said in a statement received by AFP.

The chain — which has 160 stores across the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan — sells a collection of Trump products that reportedly includes room decor, bath accessories, lighting, decorative mirrors, and jewelry boxes.

For his part, Trump defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, comparing his plan to the World War II detainment of Japanese-Americans and others in dismissing growing outrage from around the world, Reuters reported.

The White House called on Republicans to say they would not support Trump, currently the party's front-runner for the November 2016 election. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his comments could undermine U.S. security.

The prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom, Canada's foreign minister, the United Nations and Muslims in Asian countries all denounced the real-estate mogul's comments.

But Trump said his ideas were no worse than those of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

"What I'm doing is no different than FDR," Trump said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program.

"We have no choice but to do this," he said. "We have people that want to blow up our buildings, our cities. We have to figure out what's going on."

Trump said on ABC's "World News Tonight" the ban would be "short term." He said the ban could be lifted "very quickly if our country could get its act together."

(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).

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