Post by revirdsuba99 on Nov 9, 2017 0:11:33 GMT
Trump’s Chinese Gas Deal Raises Ethics Issues For Wilbur Ross
by SUZY KHIMM NOV 8 2017, 5:36 PM ET NBC
WASHINGTON — On Sunday, thanks to a consortium of investigative journalists, the public learned that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross never fully divested himself of ownership in a big global shipping company — one with ties to Russia’s rulers — when he joined President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
But new reporting by NBC News shows that Ross’ potential conflicts of interest go even further. The shipping company’s own documents suggest that Ross’ company may benefit from an important initiative that he has led as commerce secretary: securing a trade agreement with China to increase U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The shipping company in which Ross still has a 31 percent stake, Navigator Holdings, exports a different energy product, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). But Navigator’s own statements, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, say that when there’s a global expansion in LNG production facilities, that benefits the trade in LPG. That in turn could help Navigator’s bottom line, and thus Ross himself.
Ross’s heavy involvement in the trade agreement with China raises the question of whether his work as commerce secretary has had a “direct and predictable” effect on Navigator’s bottom line, potentially pushing the bounds of federal conflict of interest laws, according to Richard Painter, who served as the White House’s chief ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration.
“If I were the ethics lawyer at Commerce,” said Painter, who has been a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s ethical practices, “I wouldn’t let him anywhere near the subject.”
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Ethics experts say the same questions apply to Ross’ chief of staff, Wendy Teramoto, who was still on Navigator’s board of directors when she started working as a top advisor to the commerce secretary, as American Public Media reported this week. Ross said in May that Teramoto had played a key role in pulling together the agreement with China, which is aimed at reassuring the country about the availability of American LNG exports. (Teramoto resigned from Navigator’s board in July, four months after she became a part-time government adviser to Ross in Commerce.)
Both Ross and Teramoto are accompanying Trump on his trip to Asia this week, as are two Texas LNG companies, and increasing U.S. energy exports are at the heart of the president’s agenda.
'Navigator will be a beneficiary'
Ross himself predicted that Navigator would benefit under the Trump administration. At an event celebrating his nomination as commerce secretary, Ross assured Navigator CEO David Butters about the company's future, according to a January article in Bloomberg Businessweek. “Your interest is aligned to mine,” Butters remembers Ross saying. “The U.S. economy will grow, and Navigator will be a beneficiary.”
More at the link, long article:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-chinese-gas-deal-raises-ethics-issues-wilbur-ross-n818861
by SUZY KHIMM NOV 8 2017, 5:36 PM ET NBC
WASHINGTON — On Sunday, thanks to a consortium of investigative journalists, the public learned that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross never fully divested himself of ownership in a big global shipping company — one with ties to Russia’s rulers — when he joined President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
But new reporting by NBC News shows that Ross’ potential conflicts of interest go even further. The shipping company’s own documents suggest that Ross’ company may benefit from an important initiative that he has led as commerce secretary: securing a trade agreement with China to increase U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The shipping company in which Ross still has a 31 percent stake, Navigator Holdings, exports a different energy product, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). But Navigator’s own statements, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, say that when there’s a global expansion in LNG production facilities, that benefits the trade in LPG. That in turn could help Navigator’s bottom line, and thus Ross himself.
Ross’s heavy involvement in the trade agreement with China raises the question of whether his work as commerce secretary has had a “direct and predictable” effect on Navigator’s bottom line, potentially pushing the bounds of federal conflict of interest laws, according to Richard Painter, who served as the White House’s chief ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration.
“If I were the ethics lawyer at Commerce,” said Painter, who has been a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s ethical practices, “I wouldn’t let him anywhere near the subject.”
*****************
Ethics experts say the same questions apply to Ross’ chief of staff, Wendy Teramoto, who was still on Navigator’s board of directors when she started working as a top advisor to the commerce secretary, as American Public Media reported this week. Ross said in May that Teramoto had played a key role in pulling together the agreement with China, which is aimed at reassuring the country about the availability of American LNG exports. (Teramoto resigned from Navigator’s board in July, four months after she became a part-time government adviser to Ross in Commerce.)
Both Ross and Teramoto are accompanying Trump on his trip to Asia this week, as are two Texas LNG companies, and increasing U.S. energy exports are at the heart of the president’s agenda.
'Navigator will be a beneficiary'
Ross himself predicted that Navigator would benefit under the Trump administration. At an event celebrating his nomination as commerce secretary, Ross assured Navigator CEO David Butters about the company's future, according to a January article in Bloomberg Businessweek. “Your interest is aligned to mine,” Butters remembers Ross saying. “The U.S. economy will grow, and Navigator will be a beneficiary.”
More at the link, long article:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-chinese-gas-deal-raises-ethics-issues-wilbur-ross-n818861
