June 16, 2017

WE'VE ALREADY ESTABLISHED WHAT HE IS, WE'RE JUST HAGGLING OVER HIS PRICE:

With shift on Cuba, Trump could undercut his company's hotel-industry rivals  (Drew Harwell and Jonathan O'Connell June 15, 2017, Washington Post)

[A]s the owner of a real estate company with a big stake in hotels and resorts, Trump brings an added element to an issue that is unique to his presidency -- the ability, through his official actions, to undermine a growth area for his industry rivals who have raced in recent years to establish a foothold in a lucrative new market.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which merged with Marriott International to form the world's largest hotel chain, last year debuted the first Cuban hotel managed by a U.S. company in nearly 60 years, taking advantage of President Barack Obama's 2014 move to normalize relations with Cuba and lighten regulations enforcing the U.S. embargo on the island.  [...]

As part of an ethics pledge, Trump's company has vowed to pursue no new foreign deals during his presidency, making a potential foray into Cuba off limits for now. Yet, according to one industry expert, a presidential directive restricting efforts there by Starwood or other hotel chains would, in effect, neutralize a chief rival's ability to gain an early advantage.

"What's the president going to say? That the largest hotel company in the world, a competitor, is not allowed to renew its license" to operate in the country? asked Julia Sweig, a longtime Cuba scholar and former adviser to Starwood who has called for normalizing relations with the island. "That could be interpreted as the president is going to hold things up for the competition until the Trump Organization is ready to go down there."

Posted by at June 16, 2017 11:38 AM

  

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