Swiss gold and Rolex gifts to Trump raise questions over personalisation of US presidential power | Donald Trump
A gold Rolex desk clock and a $130,000 engraved gold bar given to Donald Trump by a group of Swiss billionaires have raised questions in Europe and the United States about the personalization of US presidential power.
Pasquale Tridico, an Italian lawmaker and former head of the country’s National Institute of Social Security, said he was “disgusted” by the gold charm attack, which came weeks before Trump decided to reduce the 39% tariff on Swiss imports to 15%.
“This is truly terrible,” he said, claiming it appeared to be a case of “making foreign policy the policy of individuals.”
Lisa Mazzone, head of Switzerland’s Green Party, said the gifts showed Trump’s “corrupt logic is poisoning the Swiss elite.”
“It is unacceptable that the federal council, in its negotiations with the US President, relies on the assistance of an economic elite that represents special interests and lacks democratic legitimacy,” he added.
The gifts were showered on Trump in the first week of November, but they might have gone unnoticed until internet sleuths set out to determine the origins of a new watch photographed on Trump’s Oval Office desk.
They claimed that the watch was in the style of the Datejust, a self-winding wristwatch introduced in 1945 that is now a valuable collector’s item.
“Fluted, gold-coloured bezel, green dial and cyclops magnifying the date complication” in question tracking site Hodinkee. “As far as we know, [it] “It is not a commercially available product.”
They traced the gift to photographs of a seven-person delegation that arrived from Switzerland in the first week of November. Among them was Rolex’s chairman, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who described the watch as “an understated, elegant expression of traditional Swiss watchmaking” in a letter to the president.
The gold bar, decorated with the numbers 45 and 47 to honor Trump’s first and second presidency, was given by Marwan Shakarchi, president of the Swiss gold refining company MKS. One of the photos had the word “president” engraved on the glossy spine, but it’s unclear if this is the same nugget.
Swiss broadcaster and political commentator Hannes Britschgi told Swiss radio station bz Basel that the gifts were “dishonorable”, while CH Media’s deputy editor-in-chief Doris Kleck said it was a reflection of how Switzerland had to bow to Trump to get his attention.
“Trump loves to be flattered by billionaires. It’s terrible to have to shower the US president with gold to get Switzerland back on his agenda,” he said on the same radio show.
Swiss economy minister Guy Parmelin rejected criticism of his lobbying, telling the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper: “We did not sell our souls to the devil.” Parmelin said Trump’s decision to reduce the 39% punitive tariff on Swiss imports to 15%, in line with the EU, was a “huge relief.”
A White House spokesman denied any connection between the gifts and the agreement, saying “the only private interest guiding President Trump’s decision-making is the interest of the American people,” and the tariff agreement followed Switzerland’s commitment to “$200 billion to be produced and rented in America.”
The White House has accepted thousands of gifts sent to the National Archives, but they may be displayed in the presidential library or museum during the president’s term, an official said.
They added that presidents may decide to personally keep or purchase some of the gifts received, but they may be taxed.
