 FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes a National Council for the American Worker in the East Room of the White House, in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes a National Council for the American Worker in the East Room of the White House, in Washington.... (Associated Press) FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Ivanka Trump is shutting down her clothing company and laying off 18 employees after some stores dropped her line and she decided ethics restrictions were holding back its ability to grow. Her decision to concentrate on the White House comes after months of speculation about whether she and her husband, fellow White House adviser Jared Kushner, would remain in the... When Ivanka Trump joined the White House as adviser to her father, she stepped aside from running her company and agreed to several restrictions so that her financial interest in the business would not conflict with her public role as a White House adviser.
– The Ivanka Trump collection is shuttering. The First Daughter had already formally separated herself from her namesake fashion line when she started to work as one of President Trump's senior advisers, but has now decided to close IT Collection LLC entirely. "After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington, so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners," Trump said in a statement, per the AP. Both the AP and the Wall Street Journal report that Trump had grown increasingly frustrated by ethics restrictions placed on the company to avoid possible conflicts of interest while she worked in the White House; she reportedly felt the restrictions were hindering the company's ability to grow. While apparel sales at the brand were way up during the 2016 election year, it has since become fraught with controversy and hit with boycotts by those who oppose President Trump. Nordstrom and other retailers have stopped selling it, citing declining sales as the reason, and still other stores have scaled back Ivanka Trump displays. Despite the efforts of Ivanka Trump, who retained her ownership interest in the company through a trust, it was challenging to keep the brand separate from her father's administration; President Trump tweeted, for example, that Nordstrom had treated Ivanka "so unfairly," and Kellyanne Conway came under fire for suggesting people "go buy Ivanka's stuff" during an interview at the White House. And the company had been criticized for using Chinese workers abroad to make its products, as well as for being granted trademarks by foreign governments that would want to be on President Trump's good side.