Exclusive: In 2010 letter, Trump pleaded with Macau leader to correct ‘outrageous’ trademark defeat, attaching TV ratings

In 2006, the same year that Macau overtook Las Vegas to become the world’s biggest gambling hub, Donald J. Trump was trying to make inroads into the Special Administrative Region of China. But there was a snag: his company name was already registered to local residents. File photo: The White House, via Flickr. Trump Companhia Limitada – “Trump Company Limited” in Portuguese – was incorporated by Maria Cecilia Bastos Xavier and Wong Un Chon in August 2005. The future US president took his bid to claim exclusive rights to the Trump name in Macau to the territory’s courts. But the outcome of the case so incensed the then-reality TV star that he would appeal directly to the leader of the former Portuguese enclave to correct what he called an “outrageous miscarriage of justice.” The 2010 letter from Donald Trump to then-Macau leader Fernando Chiu passed on by the US authorities – click to view. He also sought support from the US State Department, making his correspondence with the government and the documents he shared a matter of official record. The letters were obtained last month by journalist Timothy McLaughlin through a Freedom of Information Act request and shared exclusively with HKFP. In them, Trump called on Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui to overturn the ruling. ‘A terrible thing’ “A terrible thing has recently happened to me in Macao,” the future US president opens in his missive to the then-Chief Executive of Macau, Fernando Chui. Trump went on to decry a decision by the courts in Macau that, he says, delivered the unfathomable decision “that neither I nor my company name is well known in your country.” Then-Chief Executive of Macau Fernando Chui delivers a New Year message on February 15, 2018. Photo: Office of the Chief Executive. He was referring to a decision by Macau’s Civil Court throwing out his request that Wong and Xavier be stripped of their rights to the Trump name and for the pair to pay Trump five million Macanese patacas (HK$5 million) as compensation for the billionaire’s “pain and suffering.” “The core of [the Trump Organization’s] activities is in the United States, where it operates the vast majority of its business,” the president of the Collegiate Court of the Judicial Court of Macau wrote in March 2010. “In Macau, [Trump] is not well known by the public in general.” “This ludicrous result,” Trump wrote to Chui, shows that the Special Administrative Region’s justice system “is tainted and being controlled by corrupt individuals.” He goes on: “My company name resonates throughout the entire world, including China and Macao; whether it is from my world class buildings, my rated television show “The Apprentice”, my dozens of best-selling books, or any of the other products and services which bear my name… I, as well as my surname, am well known in Macao especially due to the fact that The Apprentice is one of the top rated television shows in China and Macao and that I had numerous best selling books in your locale.” The 2010 letter from reality TV star Donald Trump to then-Macau leader Fernando Chiu included copies of US TV ratings for his show The Celebrity Apprentice – click to view. Trump even attached television ratings to the letter to back up this claim, although the Nielsen ratings he used only showed that his reality show The Celebrity Apprentice dominated the 10pm timeslot for various viewer groups in the United States, not Macau or mainland China. ‘A deceitful culture’ “My company name resonates throughout the entire world.”Donald Trump, in a letter to chief executive of macau fernando chui A year after sending his missive to Fernando Chui, Trump wrote to then-US Commerce Secretary and future ambassador to China, Gary Locke. The courts of China and Macau, he said, were “faithless, corrupt and tainted.” “Who could expect anything different from a deceitful culture?” he added. “Their behavior should be a clear warning to the rest of the world to refrain from any trade practice or business relationship with them!” Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, also brought the case to the attention of the State Department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. Cohen, who later came under scrutiny during investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and admitted to violating campaign-finance laws at Trump’s direction to influence the polls, wrote that the Trump brand was “an internationally recognized mark that stands for the highest quality of goods and services.” Cohen described the ruling as “this terrible injustice” and a “theft by the Macao citizen, who used [the Trump name] to open a kabob [sic] stand.” According to Trump, his interest in establishing a business in Macau was about more than making a profit. The future world leader, known for his predilection for all things gilded, offered to “bring first class Western design, construction and services to your Country [sic].” By inviting him to do business in Macau, he added, “you will be helping Macao’s economy by creating jobs through the construction of world class projects that will bear my Trump name.” ‘First class Western design’: Trump speaks with staff inside his redesigned Oval Office on August 18, 2025. Photo: The White House. The Trump Organization’s appeals and calls for “justice” fell on deaf ears, both in Macau’s Palácio do Governador and Washington’s Harry S Truman Building – at least, for the time being. Reversal of fortune Noted in Macanese court filings as the author of Trump: The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received and the owner-organiser of the Miss Teen USA beauty pageant, Donald Trump had acquired a new role six years after his legal defeat: President of the United States of America. Macau. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. In June 2017, just months after he began his first term in office, a Trump-linked company was granted approval for four new trademarks covering real estate services, construction and development, hotel property, casino services, food and beverage, and conference facilities in Macau. The year before that, Trump’s local rival had let its “Trump” trademark expire. This was also three years before casino licences in the city would begin to expire, and a new bidding process was expected to open up. It appeared like a path had opened up for Trump to realise his dream of operating a casino in Macau, nurtured for at least a decade and a half. Trump had been part of a consortium of billionaires that bid unsuccessfully for one of three gaming licences that came up for grabs in 2001. Two of his partners – Macau’s David Ng and Hong Kong property tycoon Joseph Lau – were subsequently convicted of bribery and money laundering in unrelated cases. Trump’s proposal landed in the “bottom half” of 18 bids. The former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino after closure. Photo: Wikicommons. His casino ventures had begun in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1980s. But these posted huge losses year after year, making multiple trips to bankruptcy court before eventually being rebranded or demolished. The New York Times reported that Trump’s casinos failed long before the fortunes of Atlantic City itself flagged. His failures also put a number of local contractors and suppliers out of business when he did not pay them. This may have informed the Macau authorities’ decision to reject his bid in spite of his grand promises to provide local livelihoods. When the news about Trump’s long sought-after Macau trademarks broke in 2017, it invited questions about whether the newly inaugurated president could effectively separate his business and political interests, and whether he would use his newfound office to further enrich himself and his family. Almost a decade later, these questions seem quaint in light of much larger scandals that have since engulfed the Trump White House, and much more naked examples of the Trump family profiting off the presidency that have piled up over both his terms in office. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Type of Story: InvestigativeIn-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.