Warren, Blumenthal Question Belgian Diamond Giants: Was Huge Gold Ring Gifted to Trump A “Cartoonish Bribe” to Obtain Tariff Exemptions?

Gift to Trump “reinforces that foreign corporate special interests can…buy lucrative tariff exemptions simply by showering President Trump with shiny gifts…[and] could also raise serious legal questions under federal criminal law” Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and David Gotlib Luxury Cufflinks, over the decision to gift President Trump an 18-karat gold, diamond-encrusted ring shortly before the Trump administration announced tariff exemptions on European diamonds. AWDC’s lavish gift came just weeks before the Trump administration exempted European natural diamonds from Section 301 tariffs, making Belgium’s diamond industry the only major one with zero-percent tariff access to the U.S. market. “[T]he 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,” wrote the senators . In February, after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) tariffs, the Trump administration quickly replaced them with other authorities. This change erased a September 2025 zero-percent tariff exemption AWDC had pushed for and had hailed as a “tremendous boost” for its business. AWDC acknowledged it faced a “significant decline” in Belgian diamond exports to the US following the Supreme Court decision. On June 28, 2026, at an America 250 celebration in Brussels, the AWDC President presented U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White with a watch-sized, 18-karat gold ring with 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds, six rubies, and two diamond “T” emblems, to be delivered to President Trump. AWDC explicitly linked the gift to trade issues, stating that the company commissioned the ring to “celebrate that enduring relationship” with the Antwerp diamond sector’s “most important trading partner for generations.” Then, on July 24, 2026, the Trump administration officially exempted European natural diamonds from the latest tariffs, restoring the Belgian diamond industry’s zero-percent tariff access to the U.S. market. AWDC’s status as a public-private partnership with the Belgian government means President Trump may be required to give up the ring under the Foreign Emoluments Clause. “[P]resenting a gift of this magnitude could still play directly into President Trump’s well-established affinity for shiny gifts,” wrote the lawmakers , referencing the pattern of corporate executives using flattery and gifts to secure lucrative exemptions to the administration’s tariff rules. In the second Trump administration, Apple , NVIDIA , and Rolex have all seemingly secured favorable treatment after gifting President Trump lavish gifts or donating money to his inauguration. “At best, your [gift to]… President Trump amidst high-stakes tariff decisions creates the glaring appearance of impropriety. At worst, it reinforces that foreign corporate special interests can…buy lucrative tariff exemptions simply by showering President Trump with shiny gifts,” said the lawmakers . “If your gift implicates federal bribery law, you or the officials responsible for it could be subject to criminal penalties…we write to request more information about your attempts to influence Trump Administration officials,” the lawmakers concluded . The senators pressed AWDC to explain its apparent influence over the tariff exemptions and detail any communications the company had with administration officials leading up to the exemption announcement by August 24, 2026. Senator Warren has long conducted oversight on the Trump family’s apparent attempts to profit from their government roles: In August 2026, Senators Warren, Blumenthal, and Kim probed Korean company Base Group’s mysterious $2 million payment to President Trump while under a trade-related investigation by the Trump administration, raising concerns about pay-to-play politics and bribery. In a new letter to Base Group Chairman Kim Sung-jip, the lawmakers pressed the company for answers on the suspiciously-timed payment. In July 2026, Senators Warren and Blumenthal, along with Representative Stansbury, opened an investigation into reports that Softbank Group’s (Softbank) recently donated $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library — the largest publicly disclosed contribution to the Library and a possible attempt to curry political favor. In March 2026, Senator Warren released a new response from the Department of Defense (DoD) indicating that there are no effective processes in place to prevent possible conflicts of interest and corruption involving President Donald Trump’s family and the Department’s awarding of defense contracts. In a new letter, she and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on this failure and pushed for answers regarding Trump’s sons’ latest investment in Powerus, a drone company. In September 2025, Senator Warren pressed the CEO of Rolex on why the company invited President Trump to be Rolex’s guest at the finals of the U.S. Open Tennis Championship earlier this month — just weeks after President Trump announced 39 percent tariffs on Swiss imports. In July 2025, Senator Warren pushed the CEOs of Amazon, Meta, Tesla, Apple, and Alphabet , on their attempts to secure billion-dollar tax handouts paid for by ripping away health care coverage, food assistance, and other services from millions of American families. In May 2025, Senator Warren wrote to Pilgrim’s Pride and JBS USA (the parent company of Pilgrim’s Pride), pushing them to explain Pilgrim’s Pride $5 million donation to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, the single largest donation — bigger than Amazon, Meta, and Google’s donations combined. In April 2025, Senator Warren pressed Tim Cook about reports that spoke with Trump administration officials to win an exemption to Trump’s China tariffs, worth billions of dollars for Apple. In April 2025, on the 100th day of the second Trump administration, Senator Warren read 100 reports of corruption from President Trump’s term into the Congressional record, pointing to all the ways President Trump and his family have used the presidency to enrich themselves, give favors to donors, and made it more difficult to hold him accountable for corruption. ###