US President-elect Donald Trump says he'll maintain ownership of his global business empire but hand off control to his two oldest sons, an arrangement that watchdogs say will not prevent conflicts of interest in the White House.
Trump told a news conference on Wednesday he would resign from all positions overseeing his hotels, golf courses and hundreds of other businesses and move his assets into a trust to help ensure that he will not consciously take actions as president that would benefit him personally.
Trump, a Republican, is under pressure to distance himself from his businesses before he moves into the White House on January 20.
Unlike other US government officials, the president is not required by law to steer clear of conflicts of interest.
"I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to," Trump said.
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Ethics experts said the arrangement did not go far enough.
"Mr Trump's ill-advised course will precipitate scandal and corruption," said Norman Eisen, a former White House ethics adviser under Democratic President Barack Obama.
Trump appears to be still involved with his business while preparing to take office, saying he had turned down a $US2 billion ($A2.7 billion) development deal in Dubai he had been offered over the weekend.
The company that made the proposal, DAMAC, confirmed the discussions had taken place.
The Trump Organisation will not enter into any new overseas deals while Trump is president and will only undertake domestic projects after a company ethics adviser has approved them, said Trump adviser Sheri Dillon.
Details of how the ethics adviser would operate, as well as several other aspects of the arrangements, were not immediately clear.
Trump will only know of those deals if he hears about them through the news media, said Dillon, a lawyer at Morgan Lewis who focuses on tax and ethics.
Trump's daughter, Ivanka, will have no further involvement in managing the organisation or her own clothing brand.
Ivanka Trump said on her Facebook page that she would take time off to settle her family into their new home in Washington. The president-elect has named her husband, Jared Kushner, to a senior advisory role in the White House.
Since Trump sold all his stocks last year, the Trump trust will hold only business assets and liquid assets such as cash, Dillon said.
A financial disclosure document he filed in May also showed loans from lenders such as Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital. Trump will not have to file a new disclosure form until 2018.
Many other ethics experts, including the US Office of Government Ethics, have urged Trump to completely divest or set up a blind trust for his assets. In a blind trust, the owner does now know what the holdings are or how their assets are managed.
Trump's oldest sons will be running his business, so the arrangement does not meet that standard.
