Eric Branstad, the son of Terry Branstad, the U.S. Ambassador to China, has been using his political ties to President Donald Trump in an effort to promote his public relations firm in China, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported Friday night in a story datelined from Shanghai that the former Iowa Republican governor's son spoke there Thursday to more than 100 lawyers, bankers and advisers at a seminar titled, "How to React To (Potential) US-China Trade War." Eric Branstad was the U.S. Commerce Department's liaison to the White House until January.
The Journal said Eric Branstad highlighted his personal relationship with Trump and his plans to open an office in China. The newspaper said it is not unusual for former U.S. government officials to visit China while touting their ties to Washington, and ethics rules don't appear to bar such activity by the ambassador's son. But such a move could raise the appearance of ethical conflicts, the Journal reported.
The Journal said Eric Branstad appeared onstage with a colleague and endorsed Trump's challenges to China, which include tariffs on Chinese goods that have prompted a promise of retaliation from Chinese officials. But Eric Branstad's efforts to build his own business in the country appeared to hinge on his personal connection to the president, attendees told the Journal.
The Journal said neither the U.S. Embassy in Beijing nor the White House responded to a request for comment. The newspaper said Eric Branstad declined to comment when reached by email.
Eric Branstad, 42, has a long resume in Iowa politics, working as a lobbyist and as a field organizer and fundraiser for various candidate campaigns, including as a field director for George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign. He has also operated Matchpoint Strategies, a public affairs and fundraising firm in Des Moines.
In the 2016 Iowa caucus campaign, Eric Branstad was a prominent figure as the state director for America’s Renewable Future, an advocacy group that pressed presidential candidates to support ethanol and biofuels. He later became the state director for Trump’ 9-point victory over Hillary Clinton in Iowa in the November 2016 presidential election.
After the election, Eric Branstad joined Trump's inaugural committee as liaison to the nation’s governors, 33 of whom attended the inauguration. He subsequently joined the Trump administration, which had already asked his father, longtime Iowa Gov. Branstad, to become U.S. ambassador to China.
"It is a dream come true," Eric Branstad told the Des Moines Register last year in talking about his job as senior White House advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The younger Branstad spoke to the Register in November, one day before he headed to Asia on a five-country trip with President Trump that included visits to Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. He said one of the bonuses of his federal post was that he could stay with family while he was in China. “The (ambassador’s) residence is beautiful. It is very, very nice,” he said.
The elder Branstad, who likes to describe Chinese President Xi Jinping as an "old friend," was confirmed as the U.S. envoy to China more than a year ago. Terry Branstad first met the Chinese leader in 1985 when Xi visited Iowa as a young agricultural official from Hebei Province. Xi returned to Iowa as China's vice president in 2012, receiving a warm welcome again from Branstad, who had returned to the governor's office the previous year.
The elder Branstad told the Register in June 2016 that he didn’t provide much advice or consultation to his son as he pursued the Iowa campaign post to help Trump's presidential candidacy.
“I have people on my staff who knew he was under consideration for this before I did,” Terry Branstad said. “I had to call him and ask him about it. When I found out about it, I certainly visited with him about it, but I never really played a role in it.”
In his travels to Shanghai and Beijing this week, Eric Branstad was representing Mercury Public Affairs LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based communications firm he joined in February after leaving U.S. government service, the Journal reported. During his presentation, he reportedly said that Mercury soon plans to open an office in China.
The Journal said it received an emailed statement from Mercury partner Michael McKeon, who said: “Eric Branstad is an accomplished person in his own right, playing a prominent role in the Iowa business and political communities for many years before serving in a high level role in the Department of Commerce.”
“He is well versed in the ethical obligations he has as a former member of the Trump administration and has been scrupulous in adhering to the high standards he sets for himself,” McKeon added.
Mercury, a division of Omnicom Group Inc., recently began representing a Chinese telecommunications equipment maker known as ZTE Corp, the Journal reported. On May 13, Trump set into motion a reversal of a Commerce Department prohibition on ZTE’s access to U.S. suppliers because of allegations the company broke U.S. law. Mr. Trump in a tweet cited a determination to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to get ZTE “back in business, fast," the newspaper said.
Mercury subsequently said in a filing with the U.S. Justice Department that, as of May 14, it would act as a subcontractor to the global law firm Hogan Lovells on matters involving ZTE at a rate of $75,000 a month for three months. In June, the U.S. Senate voted to reinstate the ZTE ban, the Journal reported.
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