How Donald Trump should handle conflicts of interest
An arm’s-length arrangement is both principled and practical
WHEN Americans elected a businessman as president they created a problem: the risk of conflicts between his business interests and his political role. Already, red lights are flashing. China has just resolved a long-standing legal dispute in Mr Trump’s favour. A developer in India has been marketing a new Trump-branded 75-storey skyscraper under the slogan: “Congratulations Mr President-Elect”.
The danger of the White House becoming a subsidiary of the Trump Organisation is real. Some are demanding that Mr Trump liquidate his business. Mr Trump’s allies say he can do what he likes under the law. Both sides want to shred the conventions governing the Oval Office. Instead, Mr Trump should be treated like every American president. He must ring-fence his private interests and put them under independent supervision. It is the only fix that is both principled and practical. If Mr Trump wants to govern without being dogged by second-guessing about how his businesses are contaminating his policies, it is in his own interests, too.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "The hardest deal"
From the November 26th 2016 edition
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