MUMBAI, (Reuters Breakingviews) - Donald Trump Jr. is leaving a grubby mark on India. The U.S. president’s eldest son, who has no official role in the administration, arrived in the country this week to promote his family's eponymous real-estate brand but was also due to deliver a speech on Indo-Pacific relations on Friday. After a backlash over potential conflicts, the session was hastily revised to a simpler fireside chat. Still, this blurring of business and politics epitomises the type of behaviour Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to stamp out.

In front-page newspaper ads, prospective buyers of homes in the new Trump Towers outside New Delhi were promised “conversation and dinner” with Trump Jr. in exchange for plunking down a deposit. Inviting Indians, including ones who may have links to Modi's government, to curry favor with someone so close to the White House is an ethical breakdown that opens all sorts of paths to corruption.

For a family with so many conflicts of interest, this one is particularly galling. Trump Jr. is brazenly using his proximity to the president to further the interests of the Trump Organization in its largest overseas market.

Sales of flats that cost up to $1.5 million in Gurgaon have been strong, according to the local developer. Indians are obsessed with social status, which makes the Trump brand and ties especially valuable given the broader slowdown in the luxury property market. Modi's crackdown on illicit money – often funneled into real estate – is one reason the affordable-homes segment is growing.

Any attempt to present the trip as purely commercial was undermined by a plan to address business leaders on "Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation." Trump Jr.’s bartending, hunting and family-business experience hardly qualify him on the subject. The last-minute change of topic also reflects better on Modi and his own anti-graft campaign given the premier is due to speak shortly afterwards at the same event.

The whole saga underscores why the United States is no longer seen as a shining model for good governance, particularly for leaders of developing economies trying to lay foundations for stronger and fairer growth. Scandals involving cosy ties between elected and corporate leaders are also what turned voters against Modi’s predecessor. India has been trying to move away from that past. Trump Jr.’s visit represents a step in the wrong direction.

 

CONTEXT NEWS

- Donald Trump Jr. on Feb. 21 described India as an important market for the Trump Organization at the start of a trip to woo buyers for luxury residential projects in the country.

- Earlier this month, one of the company's development partners in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, ran front-page advertisements in newspapers.

- "Book your Trump Towers' residence before Feb. 22 and join Mr. Donald Trump Jr. for a 'conversation and dinner,'" the advertisement said.

- The president's son was due to speak on Feb. 23 at a business-leaders' summit in New Delhi at a session entitled "Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation." The session's title was revised at the last minute to a "Fireside Chat with Donald Trump Jr." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the event.

(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Ben Kellerman)

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