Trump tried but failed
Trump has tried really hard to do business in Russia — and failed most of the time
Trump’s history with Russia dates back to the Soviet era. In 1986, he and Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin got to talking about building hotels in Moscow. “One thing led to another, and now I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel across the street from the Kremlin in partnership with the Soviet government,” Trump wrote in in his book Trump: The Art of the Deal. The next year, Dubinin invited Trump to Moscow, where he talked with the Soviet tourist agency about hotel projects. The hotels never came to fruition, but Trump’s interest in Russia has remained ever since.
Some of Trump’s trademark bombast and recklessness are very apparent in his earliest hopes to forge some kind of relationship with Russia, which he considered largely uncharted territory for Western businesses and a potential boon for his own. In his essay for Slate, Foer recalls how Trump planted fabricated stories in the tabloid press about how Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was going to make a stop by Trump Tower during a visit to New York in 1988. But in a bizarre turn of events, a Gorbachev impersonator did show up at his hotel, and Trump enthusiastically greeted him, thinking he was the real deal.
In the following years, Trump’s streak of disappointments continued. Per Foer:
Five separate times Trump attempted Russian projects, hotels, apartments, and retail on the grandest scale. In one iteration, he promised an ice rink, a “members club,” and a spa, for “the finest residences in Moscow.” Another project he described as “the largest hotel in the world.” His gaudy style appealed to Russian nouveau riche, and he knew it.
None of those projects worked out. CNN reports that between 1996 and 2008, Trump hired the Russian law firm Sojuzpatent in order to claim at least eight trademarks in the country. Those trademarks include "Trump," "Trump Tower," "Trump Home," Trump International Hotel and Tower.” But he never ended up getting to use them for buildings because of some kind of insurmountable obstacle on the investment or approval side.
That being said, Trump did have a few modest victories in Russia. He has made a little bit of cash from allowing Drinks Americas Holdings to use his name to sell 8,000 cases of vodkain Russia.
Trump has tried really hard to do business in Russia — and failed most of the time
Trump’s history with Russia dates back to the Soviet era. In 1986, he and Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin got to talking about building hotels in Moscow. “One thing led to another, and now I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel across the street from the Kremlin in partnership with the Soviet government,” Trump wrote in in his book Trump: The Art of the Deal. The next year, Dubinin invited Trump to Moscow, where he talked with the Soviet tourist agency about hotel projects. The hotels never came to fruition, but Trump’s interest in Russia has remained ever since.
Some of Trump’s trademark bombast and recklessness are very apparent in his earliest hopes to forge some kind of relationship with Russia, which he considered largely uncharted territory for Western businesses and a potential boon for his own. In his essay for Slate, Foer recalls how Trump planted fabricated stories in the tabloid press about how Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was going to make a stop by Trump Tower during a visit to New York in 1988. But in a bizarre turn of events, a Gorbachev impersonator did show up at his hotel, and Trump enthusiastically greeted him, thinking he was the real deal.
In the following years, Trump’s streak of disappointments continued. Per Foer:
Five separate times Trump attempted Russian projects, hotels, apartments, and retail on the grandest scale. In one iteration, he promised an ice rink, a “members club,” and a spa, for “the finest residences in Moscow.” Another project he described as “the largest hotel in the world.” His gaudy style appealed to Russian nouveau riche, and he knew it.
None of those projects worked out. CNN reports that between 1996 and 2008, Trump hired the Russian law firm Sojuzpatent in order to claim at least eight trademarks in the country. Those trademarks include "Trump," "Trump Tower," "Trump Home," Trump International Hotel and Tower.” But he never ended up getting to use them for buildings because of some kind of insurmountable obstacle on the investment or approval side.
That being said, Trump did have a few modest victories in Russia. He has made a little bit of cash from allowing Drinks Americas Holdings to use his name to sell 8,000 cases of vodkain Russia.
