Dem senators accuse Belgian diamond group of ‘cartoonish bribe’ to Trump to buy break from tariffs

Two Democratic senators are pressing for answers about whether a diamond trade organization’s 18-karat gold ring gifted to President Trump was a “cartoonish bribe” to obtain tariff exemptions.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre bestowed upon the president a ring encrusted with 321 diamonds and 75 gemstones for America’s semiquincentennial anniversary. The gift was to symbolize the “historic trade relationship” between the Belgian city and the U.S., which the industry group described as “the most important export market for Antwerp’s natural diamonds.”

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut allege that the Belgian diamond dealer gifted the ring to Mr. Trump weeks before the administration announced it was exempting European diamonds from its tariffs.

European natural diamonds were spared from Section 301 tariffs, giving Belgium’s gems 0% tariff access to the U.S. market.

In their Monday letter to Antwerp World Diamond Centre President Isidore Morsel and jeweler David Gotlib, who designed and crafted the ring, the lawmakers said that the “circumstances surrounding the European diamond industry’s exemptions raise troubling new questions about foreign corporate interests potentially buying special favors from President Trump with lavish gifts — or in the case of the gold ring, what appears to be a cartoonish bribe.”

After the Supreme Court struck down Mr. Trump’s tariffs in February, a new 10% blanket tariff cost Antwerp its status as the only major diamond hub with tariff-free U.S. access.

Following the high court’s decision, the AWDC, which represents roughly 1,400 Belgian diamond companies, submitted formal feedback to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative advocating for upholding the previously granted tariff exemption for polished diamonds.

“The Trump administration agreed to provide preferential tariff treatment for diamonds as part of our historic trade deal with the European Union that was signed last summer,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to The Washington Times. “The exemption of diamonds in the Forced Labor Section 301 tariffs reflects how the Administration continues upholding our end of the deal. The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people.”

The ring, featuring diamond “T” emblems and the “45” and “47” logos, was made specifically for the president. The interior engraving reads “Crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump.”

“However, your gift of the gold ring suggests that AWDC did not limit its efforts to formal regulatory channels,” Ms. Warren and Mr. Blumenthal wrote.

Even if the diamond dealer’s status as a public-private partnership with the Belgian government requires Mr. Trump to give up the ring under the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars anyone in federal office from taking gifts from foreign states without permission from Congress, the gift could “still play directly into President Trump’s well-established affinity for shiny gifts,” the letter reads.