10/12/2015
7505 times read
10/12/2015
7505 times read
DUBAI, Dec 9, (RTRS): Dubai-based Landmark Group, one of the Middle East’s largest retail firms, said it was pulling Donald Trump products off its shelves in response to the Republican presidential frontrunner’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Landmark and DT Home Marks International LLC have an exclusive deal to sell Trump Home products - including lighting, mirrors, and jewellery boxes — in their Lifestyle department stores in Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the US media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home décor range,” CEO Sachin Mundhwa said in an emailed statement. The group did not give details on the value of the contract. On Monday, Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the most dramatic response by a candidate yet to last week’s shooting spree by two Muslims in California.
Rebuke
One former Trump business partner in Dubai, construction billionaire Khalaf al-Habtoor, told Reuters Trump had wrecked his prospects for successful future collaborations in the region. “He is really creating war. He’s creating hatred between Muslims and Christians,” Habtoor, who at one time held the contract to build a latercancelled Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai, told Reuters. “Muslims have invested hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, creating jobs for Americans. They can go invest it somewhere else.” Although there were no other immediate announcements of business partners breaking with Trump so far, others made clear they were uneasy using his brand name in the Middle East, where he has been actively expanding his footprint in recent years, heavily concentrated in the Gulf business hub of Dubai.
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