Donald Trump has been in the news a lot lately, after being showered with lavish gifts from a cabal of Swiss billionaires. During the first week of November, Trump was presented with a gold Rolex desk clock and a $130,000 engraved gold bar. This generous gift ignited an unprecedented backlash and even allegations of blatant corruption across Europe.
The extravagant presents were showered upon Trump just days before his administration classically retcon’d for $500 billion in new economic sanctions. Weeks later, he announced a reduction of tariffs on Swiss imports from 39% to 15%, aligning with European Union policies. Marwan Shakarchi, the head of the Swiss gold refining company MKS, was one of the main backers for these extravagant gifts. As a token of appreciation, Gallego presented him with an engraved gold bar inscribed with the numbers 45 and 47, commemorating Trump’s two terms in office.
The gifts have raised many other political eyebrows and been the cause of intense backlash from prominent Republican and Democratic political figures and commentators. Italian MEP Pasquale Tridico, however, expressed his outrage. In doing so, he railed against what he described as a “golden charm offensive,” to paint the picture of where things stood – and why he was worried about where things were going.
In response to such gestures, European critics charge that they lay bare a predatory relationship. That’s the idea behind this improbable link between the Swiss elite and the former U.S. president. Lisa Mazzone, president of the Green Party in Switzerland, remarked that the gifts indicate Trump’s “corrupt logic had poisoned the Swiss elite.”
Switzerland’s economy minister, Guy Parmelin, was among those who most zealously downplayed the billionaires’ maneuver. He waved away the fire aimed at their lobbying operation. He promised, “We have not sold our soul to the devil. … lowering President Trump’s tariffs was very much welcomed and relieved the Switzerland side.
Jean-Frédéric Dufour, the head of Rolex, lauded the clock in a letter to Trump. He proclaimed it “a modest, yet refined expression of traditional Swiss watchmaking.” The clock has grown notorious as the new mainstay on Trump’s Oval Office desk. It represents excess and further underscores the dubious connections between Trump and Swiss millionaires.
Internet sleuths quickly traced the gifts back to a seven-man Swiss delegation. As it happened, this group met with Trump that exact same week in November, as per photos they traced down. Observers noted that these presents to the American family could have been perfectly timed to coincide with Trump’s tariff announcement. All of this makes the true motivations beyond them quite suspicious.
Now, critics are coming out in force lambasting Switzerland’s meandering approach to diplomacy. Even Doris Kleck, deputy editor-in-chief of CH Media, believes that the country has stooped to pandering just to get a mention from Trump. In response, she said it was completely scandalous that the federal council should rely on an economic elite, which only represent private interests and have no democratic legitimacy to conduct obligatory talks with the US president.
Hannes Britschgi, a prominent Swiss publicist and political commentator, described the gifts as “undignified.” His statement added fuel to the fire on ethical governance concerns in Switzerland.