Washington (CNN) Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's family has deep business ties to China -- placing the key Cabinet official in a potentially conflicting position with the Trump administration's confrontational posture toward the US' major economic rival, according to a report from The New York Times.

The Times investigation outlined Chao's ties to Foremost Group, her family's shipping business. The report noted that while Chao "has no formal affiliation or stake" in the company, she and her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have received millions in gifts from Chao's father, who used to run the company, along with political donations from her family.

Chao, according to the report, has boosted the company in China, whose government runs a bank that has loan commitments from the shipping company in the order of "hundreds of millions of dollars."

The report said in addition to the shipping company, Chao's family has other ties to official China, including board positions in state companies and a close relationship between Chao's father and former Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin.

The Times said Chao declined an interview and that the Transportation Department provided a statement from her defending herself and her family.

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