In the short time Donald Trump has been president-elect, he’s already shown that he will freely mix his business affairs with his activities as president. Federal ethics rules are not a deterrent, since they cannot be enforced against him. The situation practically invites foreign governments and businesses to try to influence American policy by currying favor with him through his business empire.

The president’s family will be managing golf courses, hotels and other businesses that stretch across the world. Unlike other recent presidents who liquidated their assets and put the proceeds in a blind trust, Mr. Trump told The Times on Tuesday that he wouldn’t do so because “the law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” He’s wrong. A president can, of course, have conflicts of interest, and an ethical leader would do everything possible to dispel those conflicts, whether required by law or not.

During the campaign, Mr. Trump relentlessly excoriated Hillary Clinton for the Clinton Foundation’s willingness to accept donations from foreign governments. But Mrs. Clinton’s possible conflicts pale beside the ones he’s now intent on embracing. He has little interest in living by ethics rules because that would disadvantage his financial interests. He says he intends to meet with business partners in the White House. And he insists, wrongly, that handing his businesses over to his adult children, who are on his transition team, solves the problem.