US: Trump tax records show 3 bank accounts overseas

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US President Donald Trump has bank accounts in three different foreign countries, one of them in China, which he has highly criticized over the years, according to a news report on Tuesday.

While the other two countries are the United Kingdom and Ireland, the president's account in China is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management LLC, which paid $188,56 taxes to Beijing from 2013 to 2015, according to the New York Times report.

Trump's foreign bank accounts are held under corporate names and that is why they do not appear on his public financial disclosure forms, it added.

Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump organization, told Times that the account was opened after the Trump Organization opened an office in China in an effort to explore business opportunities in the hotel industry.

''No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,” Garten told the Times. ''Though the bank account remains open, it has never been used for any other purpose.''

A US appeals court in lower Manhattan on Oct. 7 ruled Trump must turnover his tax records to a prosecutor in the state of New York, although his lawyers has the option to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

While Trump has long refused to make his tax records public, the Supreme Court ruled against him in July when the president argued he cannot be investigated nor charged while he occupies the White House.

As the reason for not sharing his tax returns, Trump points out to being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service regarding a $72.9 million tax refund he received.

Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, according to a New York Times report on Sept. 28, which said the former businessman paid just $750 in federal income tax the year he took office in 2016, and another $750 in 2017.

While Trump has long claimed China is "ripping off" the US in trade relations, he initiated a trade conflict with Beijing after taking office, and slammed China for COVID-19 that caused the worst economic recession in the US since the Great Depression.