One of President Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Florida will host the G7 summit next June, the White House has announced.

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters that President Trump would not profit from the event.

Mr Mulvaney said “Donald Trump’s brand is probably strong enough as it is”, so he did not need a branding boost.

Mr Trump’s property, the National Doral Miami, is located around 8 miles (13 km) from Miami’s airport.

Mr Trump hosted the 2015 Miss Universe competition at the Doral ©Getty Images

The Group of Seven meeting, between Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US plus the EU, takes place between 10-12 June next year.

Mr Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday that an advance team of scouts had started with about a list of possible locations for the summit in about a dozen states.

The advance team, he said, went to visit the event spaces in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee and Utah.

“And it became apparent at the end of that process that Doral was by far and away, far and away, the best physical facility for this meeting.

©Getty Images

“In fact I was talking to one of the advance teams when they came back and I said, ‘what was it like?’ And they said, ‘You’re not going to believe this but it’s almost like they built this facility to host type of event.'”

The US president originally floated the idea earlier in the summer of his 800-acre Doral property hosting G7.

Mr Trump has been criticised during his presidency for visiting his golf clubs across the US and abroad – he stayed at his luxury resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, after a state visit to the UK this year.

But Mr Mulvaney denied on Thursday that Mr Trump was profiting from the presidency, pointing out that he donates his salary to charity.

“It’s the most recognisable name in the English language [Trump] and probably around the world right now, so no, that has nothing to do with that.

Mr Mulvaney said he had initially been sceptical and “aware of the political sort of criticism that we’d come under for doing it at Doral”.

He added: “I get the criticisms, so does he. Basically, he’d be criticised regardless of what he’d chose to do, but no there’s no issue here on him profiting from this any way, shape or form.”

Is this a conflict of interest?

Mr Mulvaney denied hosting the summit would breach the Emoluments Clause of the US constitution, which prohibits a president from any “profit, gain, or advantage” received “directly or indirectly” from foreign governments.

When he became president, Mr Trump stepped down from running his company, handing over the reins of the real estate empire to his sons, but he did not divest from his assets and still retains ownership of the business.

A number of Trump properties have seen declines in profits during his presidency. The Miami Herald reported in May that the Doral resort has been “severely under-performing”.

But the president’s critics say his ownership of these properties is a conflict of interest and argue it is unethical that Mr Trump could benefit from any profits during his presidency.

In July, a federal appeals court rejected a case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and DC that argued Mr Trump was unconstitutionally profiting through his hotel in the nation’s capital, not far from the White House….

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