Donald Trump asked Rolex managers if he would have been invited to view this month’s US Open Final Final of the VIP box of the luxury watchmaker if he had imposed steep rates on Swiss export weeks earlier.
The American president’s comments were “made in joke”, emphasized Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the American senator who had asked questions about the decision to invite Trump whether the conglomerate wanted “to” approve “with the administration.
Warren, a Democrat for Massachusetts, said, “Corruption is not a laugh.”
Trump’s 39% rate for Swiss exports to the US – considerably higher than its 15% rate on the European Union, or 10% at the UK – threatens to stack pressure on Rolex, one of the world’s leading watch manufacturers.
Dufour claimed that the invitation for Trump and other senior figures in his administration was part of a broader focus on “the values of sport, sportiness and international friendship”, rather than any “capitulation” for the American president. “Neither Rolex is once involved in the negotiation with the US government with regard to rates,” he wrote.
But Dufour described how Trump imposed the rates he imposed on Switzerland, and Swiss exporters such as Rolex, imposed weeks earlier.
“President Trump, never anyone to miss a rhetorical opportunity, asked for the joke if he would have been invited if it had not been for the rates – a moment that everywhere in the laughter laughed and, as you can imagine, a quick return of attention for the unfolding excitement on the field,” wrote Dufour.
“No substantive discussion” took place “with regard to rates, trade policy or other official issue” during the US Open final, or he has since claimed.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“While families are crushed by Trump’s chaotic rates, Donald Trump and his rich friends laugh at rates in a chic box sponsored by a luxury watch brand,” Warren said. “How much more from contact can Trump be?”
Trump was gifted “a golf sweater and a sports gilet” as “a sign of appreciation for attending the event,” said Dufour.
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