Donald Trump says daughter Ivanka 'treated so unfairly' by Nordstrom for dropping her fashion brand

The move will leave the president open to accusations of a conflict of interest

Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk towards Marine One to head to Delaware where the body of the Navy SEAL killed in the Yemen raid returns to the US (Getty Images)

What sort of father would not rush to the defence of his daughter if he felt she had been slighted - even if she is a married mother-of three and he is the US president.

Donald Trump - thin-skinned, but fast twitter-fingered - came rushing to the rescue of his daughter Ivanka, after her clothing line was dropped by several major retailers.

“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by Nordstrom,” he wrote. “She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!”

Last week, it emerged a number of major US fashion retailers said they would no longer sell Ms Trump’s eponymous clothing and accessories line.

First to make the announcement was Seattle-based Nordstrom. The following day, Dallas-based Neiman Marcus also said it was dropping the line.

“We’ve got thousands of brands - more than 2,000 offered on the site alone,” said a spokesperson for the Nordstrom, which has nearly 350 stores.

“Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business. Each year we cut about 10 per cent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount. In this case, based on the brand’s performance we’ve decided not to buy it for this season.”

A spokesperson for Neiman Marcus, which operates 42 stores, said in a statement: “Neiman Marcus has a very small Ivanka Trump precious jewelry business which is comprised 100 per cent of consigned merchandise (merchandise owned by the vendor). Based on productivity we continuously assess whether our brands are carried in stores, on our website, or both.”

The decisions to no longer carry the line follows a grassroots campaign spearheaded by opponents of Mr Trump called “Grab Your Wallet”, which demanded a boycott of retailers that carried Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump merchandise.

In November, Nordstrom took to Twitter to respond to a shopper's request to stop selling the brand.

“We hope that offering a vendor’s products isn’t misunderstood as us taking a political position; we're not,” the retailer tweeted.

“We recognise our customers can make choices about what they purchase based on personal views & we’ll continue to give them options.”

Ms Trump’s clothing line received a major boost after she showcased an outfit while introducing her father at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The following morning, she tweeted: “Shop Ivanka’s look from her #RNC speech.”

An inspection by The Independent of more than 25 different items of Ms Trump’s range at the Macy’s flagship store in New York city, found not a single one was produced in the US. Rather, the ones on display were made in China or Vietnam. Ms Trump did not respond to The Independent's inquiries.

The Associated Press said that shares in Nordstrom traded around $42.70 before the president’s 10.50am tweet, then fell to $42.48 afterward in a flurry of trading. The shares recovered and were trading at $43.08 by early afternoon.

It was not the first time Mr Trump's tweets have at least temporarily affected a stock. US automakers, Boeing and Carrier have also suffered after his comments on Twitter, the AP said. But companies are clearly wrestling with a new dynamic.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr Trump was responding to an “attack on his daughter.”

“For people to take out their concern about his actions or executive orders on members of his family, he has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their success," he said.