U.S. ambassador to Belgium accepted a jeweled gold ring for Trump from a diamond group that won U.S. tariff relief

On June 28, 2026, at an event in Brussels marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White accepted an elaborately jeweled gold ring intended as a gift for President Donald Trump. The watch-sized, 18-karat gold ring is encrusted with 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds, and six rubies, and its interior is engraved "Crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump." Two independent jewelers consulted by The Associated Press estimated its value at between $25,000 and $35,000; neither the donor nor the jeweler who made it would provide a valuation.

The ring was presented by Isidore Mörsel, president of the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), on behalf of the Belgian port city's diamond trade. In September, the AWDC announced it had "succeeded in securing a zero percent import tariff" on Antwerp's more than $2 billion in annual polished-diamond exports to the United States, reversing duties imposed under the administration's trade measures. A spokesperson said the group provided "input" to the European Commission during the 2025 tariff negotiations but did not itself lobby the U.S. administration. Trump thanked the group in a prerecorded video message, calling it "a very special thank you to my friends from Antwerp for the magnificent Freedom 250 ring."

The Constitution's Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses restrict federal officeholders from accepting gifts of value connected to their office, and ethics experts told the AP that Trump has broken with a decades-old White House custom of declining such gifts. A White House official, speaking anonymously, said the ring had not yet been formally presented to Trump; the ambassador stated on social media that once he delivers it, the ring will be displayed in the Oval Office. The gift follows other high-value items directed to Trump, including a Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and converted for use as Air Force One.

Updates

2026-08-10 — Senators demanded bribery-law answers on ring/tariff timing [4, 5, 6]

On August 10, 2026, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre and jeweler David Gotlib Luxury Cufflinks questioning whether the ring gift violated federal bribery law, writing that it "creates the glaring appearance of impropriety" and "reinforces that foreign corporate special interests can... buy lucrative tariff exemptions." The letter noted the July 24, 2026 tariff exemption for European natural diamonds came about four weeks after the June 28 ring presentation; the senators requested ring valuation, payment-source, and prior tariff-discussion details by August 24, 2026. The administration said the exemption merely upheld a 2025 U.S.-EU trade agreement, not a new concession.

2026-08-13 — AWDC publicly denied any link between the ring and the tariff exemption [7, 8]

Responding to the senators' letter, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre said in a statement that "the discussion about U.S. import tariffs was entirely separate from" the ring, which it said was created solely to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence: "Without that celebration, there would have been no ring." The AWDC acknowledged it had advocated for reinstating the diamond sector's tariff exemption after a Supreme Court ruling struck down a related tariff law and a temporary 10% global tariff took effect, but said that advocacy was likewise unconnected to the gift. It was the industry's first on-the-record response to the senators' bribery-law inquiry.