By Trevor Hunnicutt, Michael Martina and Antoni Slodkowski
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's son Eric, who oversees the family business empire, will accompany the U.S. president on his trip next month to China, a spokeswoman for the family organization told Reuters on Tuesday.
Eric and his wife Lara will accompany Trump in a personal capacity on the May 14-15 visit, Trump Organization spokeswoman Kimberly Benza said.
"Eric is deeply proud of his father and the accomplishments of this term, and is attending in a personal capacity as a supportive son. He does not have business ventures in China nor plans on doing business in China. He will not be participating in private meetings, but will instead stand alongside the president to mark this historic occasion."
Nevertheless, the move could raise concerns about a possible conflict of interest, given that Trump's personal wealth and business dealings are managed by Eric and other members of his family.
Eric Trump is executive vice president of the Trump Organization, overseeing investments spanning real estate, golf and blockchain. Lara Trump, a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, hosts Fox News Channel's "My View with Lara Trump."
Trump had criticized his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, for allowing his son Hunter to accompany him to China when Biden was vice president. He accused the younger Biden of using his influence to secure China's financial backing for his investments. In 2019, Trump publicly invited China to open an investigation into his political rivals. The Biden family has denied wrongdoing.
The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House has said Trump fully complies with financial ethics and reporting requirements.
A spokesman for Donald Trump Jr. said the president's eldest son, who is also an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, would not join the trip.
The highly anticipated trip is the first by a U.S. president in eight years and is aimed at maintaining stable relations between Beijing and Washington. The world's two largest economies agreed to a truce last year after a bruising period marked by Trump's tariffs and China’s chokehold on rare-earth exports.
But some U.S. companies had also hoped Trump's visit could go further than giving a green light for deals on Chinese purchases of soybeans and Boeing aircraft, which are already under consideration.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren in March said Eric Trump's business dealings with Bitmain, a Chinese cryptocurrency mining equipment maker, posed a potential conflict of interest for his father, who has promised to be the "crypto president" and popularize cryptocurrencies' mainstream use in the United States.
Warren asked the Commerce Department to address potential national security risks linked to Bitmain, which has supplied equipment to a cryptocurrency mining venture co-founded by Eric Trump, American Bitcoin.
The spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the cryptocurrency allegations.
Miami, Florida-based energy and technology firm Hut 8 launched American Bitcoin in 2025 to focus mainly on bitcoin mining while building a strategic bitcoin reserve. Eric Trump serves as chief strategy officer.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Michael Martina and and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Deepa Babington and Daniel Wallis)
