Ivanka Trump arouses criticism for assuming diplomatic roles in the G20
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In the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, amid mine-riddled mountains, there is a strange silence that makes it one of the most tense negotiating sites on the planet. There is no room for mistakes.
And it is one of the most recent places where Ivanka Trump has tried to play the art of government.
The eldest daughter of the US president took advantage of an impromptu meeting between her father and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to further assume the role of unofficial spokesperson and direct participant in the Trump administration. Along with her husband, fellow White House adviser Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump gave interviews, posed for photos and attended the closed-door meeting between her father and Kim.
Earlier that day, Ivanka Trump had also repeated in public statements what her father often says about North Korea: that she will be freed from economic sanctions if Kim only dismantles his nuclear program. There is very little evidence that Kim has taken steps for this, but on Sunday, June 30, she was visited with honors by two people named Trump.
When Ivanka Trump emerged from the closed-door meeting between two world leaders, she only told reporters that she had been "surreal."
Ivanka Trump appears to be trying to get involved in a talk among Macron, May, Trudeau and Lagarde (IMF head).
— Parham Ghobadi پرهام قبادی (@BBCParham) June 29, 2019
The video is released by French Presidential palace. pic.twitter.com/TJ0LULCzyQ
Some would use another word: inappropriate.
“Ivanka Trump is not part of the National Security Council; she did not advise at all on the issues that were being discussed, "said Michael A. McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia during the Barack Obama administration. "Her presence [at the private meeting] makes the Trump delegation seem less professional to other countries and to professionals who do work on national security issues in the government."
US President Donald Trump has been criticized for adding so many family members to his administrative staff since his tenure began, and since then he has done nothing more than push them further into a White House that has been marked by high staff turnover. Only Kushner has been tasked with issues ranging from the White House's technology upgrade to proposing the US plan for conflicts in the Middle East. Still, the recent visit to Asia by 37-year-old Ivanka Trump was an important step toward a scene with much greater visibility.
She was ready to be heard from the beginning of the official trip, as the most visible female member of the Trump administration: First Lady Melania Trump stayed in Washington and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had a lot of presence in foreign trips as Press Secretary, just left office.
So in Osaka, at the G20 summit, the meeting of heads of state of the twenty largest economies, and the original goal of the trip before Donald Trump decided to go to the demilitarized zone, Ivanka Trump was constantly by her father's side. while meeting world leaders, from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.
Those who follow the adventures of the White House, and also the critics of the current government, used a short recording in which she appears to argue that she was overrun. The video posted on the French presidency's Instagram account shows Ivanka Trump's attempts to converse with Theresa May, the outgoing UK Prime Minister; with Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund; Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.
In that part of the video, Ivanka Trump seemed to be looking to intervene in the diplomatic debate. May is heard saying, "As soon as you put that financial aspect on them, a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise start listening."
And that's when Ivanka Trump intercedes: "Same thing with the defense side, as far as the business that's been, like, dominated by men."
Lagarde, who was next to the US president's daughter, turns to her and blinks in apparent confusion.
Ivanka Trump has taken the issue of women's empowerment as a banner for her work in the White House. In February, she unveiled her initiative Women's Global Development and Prosperity, which aims to ensure that fifty million women worldwide have economic security by 2025. In recent weeks, Ivanka Trump has also traveled to the United States. United to discuss the White House's efforts to underpin the development of the country's workforce. During the G20 weekend in Osaka she gave a speech to world leaders in which she said that women should be at the center of any economic agenda.
Still, the video posted by the French presidency sparked many debates online about how much access Ivanka Trump has had specifically just because of her family relationship and whether she is responsible for engaging in dialogues with heads of state at such a high-level diplomatic event. Among the critics was New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortéz.
"This may surprise some, but being someone's daughter is not enough qualification for a career," Ocasio-Cortéz wrote on Twitter. "It affects our diplomatic positions when the president hardly tries [...] It would not be a bad idea to bring a person with a background in diplomacy."
Jessica Ditto, the White House deputy communications director, said in an email that the video clip that was circulating was a "misrepresentation" of the conversation and that the criticism about it is "absolutely pathetic." She added: "It is sad but not surprising that those who only want to criticize have chosen to attack Ivanka Trump, the president's senior adviser, when she is promoting American efforts to empower women to world leaders."
However, Ivanka Trump's participation in the trip to the G20 does underscore how much she has risen within the White House in recent months without any restraint and the few people left who could speak out against it (there were several reports that the Former Chief of Staff John Kelly tried to limit the influence of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump before stepping down.)
And if the president has doubts about how much to encourage his daughter to act as a diplomat, he did not show it on this trip: During a meeting with troops at a military base outside Seoul, South Korea, he introduced Ivanka to the same as long as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"She's going to take the spotlight," Trump said. "She is going to steal it."
