Donald Trump Jr, son of the US President Donald Trump, is travelling to India “as a private citizen and not in an official capacity”, the State Department has said.
"We certainly are aware that Mr Trump is in the region, that he's there as a private citizen, not as a official US government in any capacity," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at her daily news conference.
The son of the US President is currently on a business trip India. He is executive vice president of the Trump Organization which is developing a number of high profile properties in various parts of the country.
He is scheduled to speak on "Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation," at the Economic Times Global Business Summit on 23 February. Among others, Narendra Modi will be present at the summit.
Nauert said the US embassy is in touch with the Secret Service, because he is afforded Secret Service protection.
"And so any time we have an official or someone who would go over there who does have Secret Service protection, there is some amount of coordination and conversation. But overall, the US embassy does not have any kind of role in that visit,” she said.
Trump Jr in India to Sell Apartments
Trump Jr arrived in India on Tuesday, 20 February to sell luxury apartments and lavish attention on wealthy Indians who have already bought units in Trump-branded developments.
The Trump Organization has licensing agreements with all its Indian business partners, who build the properties and acquire the Trump name in exchange for a fee.
The organisation has five projects in India, making it the brand’s largest market outside the US.
A luxury complex is already open in the central city of Pune, with other developments in varying stages of construction in the coastal cities of Mumbai and Kolkata, and two in a chrome-and-glass New Delhi suburb, Gurgaon.
The apartments are expensive – though not outrageously so in the overheated real estate world of India's wealthy elite. An apartment in the Trump Towers complex in Gurugram runs between $775,000 and $1.5 million.
President Trump has pledged to avoid any new foreign business deals during his term in office to avoid potential ethical conflicts.
While the projects that Trump Jr is promoting in India were inked before his father was elected, ethics experts have long seen the use of the Trump name to promote even existing business ventures as tricky territory.
(With inputs from ANI and AP)
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