By Alia ShoaibShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberTwo Swiss lawmakers have asked prosecutors to investigate whether generous gifts given to President Donald Trump by Swiss business leaders violated anti‑bribery laws.
The gifts, including a gold bar and a Rolex table clock, were handed over during a White House meeting that came about a week before the Trump administration cut tariffs on Swiss goods.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing, and a source close to the Swiss delegation that visited the Oval Office told Newsweek that the gifts were given to the presidential library, which is permitted under U.S. ethics rules.
Newsweek contacted the White House and the companies of the Swiss executives who took part in the meeting via email on Friday.
Representatives for Rolex and Partners Group declined to comment.
Why It Matters
The controversy highlights the ethical gray area surrounding lavish gifts and high-level lobbying.
Trump, known for his love of gold and extravagant items, has this term received gifts ranging from a gold-and-glass disc from Apple to a $400 million 747 jet gifted to his presidential library by the government of Qatar.
While Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing, the timing of the Swiss gifts, just days before the U.S. reduced tariffs on Swiss goods, has raised ethical and legal questions around expensive gifts to public officials.
What To Know
Trump met with Swiss business leaders earlier this month to discuss U.S.–Swiss trade relations, after the U.S. imposed high tariffs on Swiss goods which have hurt Switzerland’s economy.
The executives who attended the meeting represented the companies Rolex, Partners Group, Mercuria, Richemont, and MKS PAMP, per Axios, while another executive from MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company helped arrange the meeting but ultimately could not attend.
During the meeting, the business leaders presented Trump with the gifts.
Axios reported that the 1-kilogram gold bar, which was engraved with the numbers 45 and 47 to reference Trump’s terms, is worth around $130,000.
Ten days after the meeting, the U.S. announced a framework agreement reducing a tariff on Swiss goods from 39 percent to 15 percent.
...Two Swiss lawmakers, Raphael Mahaim and Greta Gysin from the Green Party, wrote to the country’s public prosecutor asking them to determine whether the gifts violated the Swiss Criminal Code.
A source close to the Swiss business leaders that attended the meeting told Newsweek: "The gifts were presented to the Presidential Library on behalf of the group who attended the meeting, in full compliance with both U.S. and Swiss law."
The Swiss attorney general’s office confirmed to The Telegraph that it had received three criminal complaints.
"The office of the attorney general is reviewing these complaints as usual," a spokesperson said. "It is important to note that the receipt of a criminal complaint does not automatically mean that a criminal investigation has been opened."
What People Are Saying
Swiss lawmaker Raphael Mahaim said in a letter to Switzerland’s public prosecutor, per The Telegraph: "The average person rightly questions the legality of these gifts offered to the American president in order to obtain his unblocking of a trade negotiation file."
"We question the compatibility of these gifts with Article 322 of the Swiss Penal Code. The end does not justify all means, especially when respect for important provisions of our legal system is at stake."
Toomas Kull, public relations consultant at the Swiss PR agency CPC told Newsweek in an emailed statement: "In Switzerland, filing this kind of report and sending it to the media is used to grab public attention. It’s about making noise and shaping perception, rather than making an actual legal challenge."
What Happens Next
The Swiss public prosecutor will review the complaints from the Green Party lawmakers and decide whether to open a formal investigation into the gifts. Under Swiss law, filing a complaint does not automatically trigger a criminal case.
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