Three men investigating Chinese factory tied to Ivanka Trump go missing

Impact

On Tuesday, China Labor Watch director Li Qiang told the Associated Press that a man investigating the working conditions at a Chinese company that produces Ivanka Trump-brand shoes had been arrested. Two other men involved with the investigation are also reportedly missing.  

Li Qiang told the AP he assumed the men were being held by either the factory or the police. He added that although his group has been investigating working conditions of Chinese suppliers for nearly 20 years, he's never "attracted such scrutiny from China's state security apparatus," the AP reported.

This isn't the first time Trump's name has been associated with some questionable business dealings in China. As Mic reported in April, Trump's business' trademark applications in the country were serendipitously approved by the Chinese government the same day she dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at her father's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump has long been admired by Chinese women and embraces them in return, at least on social media. The eldest Trump daughter often shares personal anecdotes and photos of her and her children sharing in Chinese culture, such as the below video of daughter Arabella singing a song she learned for Chinese New Year.

But one area where she doesn't appear as generous is actually paying the Chinese people for their work.

According to a report published in the Washington Post by the Fair Labor Association, Trump's brand often profits off the labor of exploited garment workers, most of whom are women.

The report found Trump's clothing brand is partially produced by Chinese factory workers at the G-III Apparel Group factory, which employs 80 workers who are paid about $62 for a nearly 60-hour work week. The Fair Labor Association also conducted its factory tour and found rampant safety violations. As Mic noted, this all occurred in October, before Trump stepped away from her own company to focus her efforts on helping her father in the White House.

Ironically, just a few weeks ago, Trump took part in a women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship panel at the W20 summit. The day prior to the event, Trump wrote in the Financial Times, "Our challenge now is to work together — in public and private sectors — to move decisively to invest in women worldwide."