FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP BUSINESS/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “After days of controversy over Donald Trump Jr.’s apparent mixing of his family’s private real-estate interests and American foreign policy during a trip to India this week, Mr. Trump dropped his plans to make a speech about international affairs on Friday [2-23-18].
Instead, he went in the opposite direction, sitting down for an interview with an Indian journalist that rehashed safe topics from previous interviews: his father’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, how little the family sees him now, and India’s great entrepreneurial spirit. ‘I’m here as a businessman. I’m not representing anyone,’ Mr. Trump told the crowd of about 2,000 business and political leaders, who were gathered for the annual business conference hosted by India’s most powerful media company, The Times Group…
Mr. Trump has spent this week promoting his company’s new luxury housing projects in four Indian cities. India is the biggest foreign market for the Trump real-estate interests outside of North America… Mr. Trump has downplayed those concerns during his India visit, saying that the company’s promise not to seek new foreign projects during the Trump presidency has hurt its business. In India, officials have been struggling to understand what the Trump White House means for Indo-American relations.”
-Vindu Goel and Maria Abi-Habib, “Donald Trump Jr. Retreats From Foreign Policy on India Trip,” The New York Times online, Feb. 23, 2018