Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Donald Trump / Business, Economics and Finance / World Politics

Developer rules out bringing Trump name to Australia for now

Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017 12:07:53 | Xanthe Kleinig

Eric, Ivanka, Donald Jr and Donald Trump with developer Joo Kim Tiah. (Facebook: Joo Kim Tiah)

US President Donald Trump may have failed in his attempt to open a casino in Sydney during the 1980s, but he still has several trademarks registered here for the Trump name.

Key points:

  • Developer Joo Kim Tiah owns hotels in Australia, studied in Sydney
  • Tiah built Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver
  • Says it's "hard to say" if he would try to bring Trump brand here

The man who would seem most likely to open a Trump business on Australia's shores is developer Joo Kim Tiah, who built the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver and already owns two hotels in Australia.

Mr Tiah is CEO of Malaysian firm TA Global, owner of Sydney's Radisson Blu and the Westin in Melbourne, and the developer of more than 500 homes at Little Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

He said Australia fits the company's requirements for further investment, but has ruled out bringing the Trump name to Australia in the immediate future.

"It's too hard for me to say right now, I don't know the sentiment of the Australian people or their mood," he said in an exclusive interview from Kuala Lumpur.

Murdoch University's Asia Research Centre fellow Dr Jeffrey Wilson, who recently authored a paper for the US Studies Centre on the implications of Trump's trade policy, said the US President's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, at Trump Tower in New York, had sent a strong message about the importance of business in relationships with regional leaders.

"A general message is, if you want to be a friend and partner of the USA, that means being open to business when Trump interests arrive in town," he said.

"People in Indonesia and the Philippines are thinking they want a Trump tower to open in their countries soon, they will be really happy to do that."

Dr Wilson said Australia's diplomacy was far more sophisticated but our economic ties are strong with nations where Trump's powerful business partners operate.

"None of this is corruption on Trump's part, he's simply sent the vague sense, that if you want to be on good terms with the USA, you want to be mates with me," he said.

"This is why you are supposed to sell the business, while he continues to hold it as a trust, it's still his," he said.

Jose Antonio, the developer of Trump Tower in Manila, has been appointed as the Philippines' envoy for trade, investment and economic affairs to the USA.

Trump Organisation is also developing two hotels in Indonesia with a media magnate, property developer and aspiring politician who is critical of the current government.

Trump trademarks registered here relate to hotel management, golf and casinos.

Dr Wilson said that Trump's business model was based around licensing his own name as a celebrity.

"That's been Trump's business his whole career and now his name is the biggest name in the world," he said.

Joo Kim Tiah Photo: Joo Kim Tiah graduated from Sydney's Macquarie University and owns two hotels in Australia. (Supplied: Holborn Group)

The 37-year-old Mr Tiah — who lived in Australia while a student at Macquarie University — chose the Trump Organisation for his Vancouver tower's hotel management and residential licensing agreement.

The company has come under pressure to drop the Trump name in Canada, with protesters penning thousands of signatures on a petition that asked the company to dump the deal.

"We are not in any position to control politics, we just keep our heads down and do our own business," Mr Tiah said.

He took over the business from his father last year and said being a member of the "second generation" is a bond with Mr Trump's son, Donald Junior.

Illume Little Bay architectural image Photo: 'Illume' in Little Bay, Sydney, one of Joo Kim Tiah's Australian properties. (Supplied: Illume Little Bay website)

Furore over Trump's alleged conflicts of interest

Trump's appointees and their Australian interests

  • Australia's Defence Department owes Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly up to $US15,000 for a speaking engagement.
  • Chair of Mr Trump's manufacturing jobs initiative Andrew Liveris was born in Darwin and owns two properties in Sydney.
  • Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao was a director of News Corporation until she resigned in January.
  • Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin was in the film financing and production business with Australia's James Packer.
  • Congressional liaison Chris Collins is on the board of Sydney-based pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics, and holds shares, as do his family members. His shareholding has been challenged by an application to the Australian Government Takeovers Panel which alleges he "may have obtained effective control of the company" in contravention of the Corporations Act.
  • Health Secretary Tom Price also revealed income of between $US50,000 and $US100,000 from shares in Innate but has promised to divest.
  • Small Business Administrator and wrestling magnate Linda McMahon was a director of WWE Australia Pty Ltd in 2008-09.
  • Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has a cash management investment with deposits in Australian banks.

Questions about the implications of Mr Trump's business relationships are likely to be raised again when the Trump International Hotel and Tower holds its official Vancouver opening on February 28, an event Donald Jr and Eric Trump are expected to attend.

Mr Trump has removed his name from hundreds of business entities and set up a trust administered by Donald Jr and Trump Organisation chief financial officer Allen H Weisselberg.

This has failed to silence critics who say Mr Trump is still the sole beneficiary of the trust.

Mr Tiah said business with the Trumps has not changed since the election - he generally deals with Donald Jnr - but lawyers have requested photographs be deleted from the hotel's website to ensure there is no perception that the company is capitalising on their connection to the Oval Office.

Trump tried to build casino

Mr Trump tried to develop a casino at Pyrmont in the 1980s with Brisbane developer Barry Paul but it did not go ahead.

Dr Wilson said the Trump brand would be an unlikely success in Australia.
"I suspect if you opened a Trump Tower in downtown Melbourne it would be egged by hipsters and no-one would go," he said.

"There's a big cultural difference between the US and Australia, the US likes the tall poppy and that's what Trump is."

Mr Trump's 2016 financial disclosure included up to $US1 million in Australian mining company BHP Billiton via a wealth management account.

BHP was also one of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's stock picks. His financial disclosure to the US Office of Government Ethics revealing he received between $US5,000 and $US15,000 in income from the company. Both have pledged to divest.

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend