\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this month\u2019s US Open final from the luxury watchmaker\u2019s VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
The US president\u2019s remarks were made \u201cin jest\u201d, stressed Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the US senator who had raised questions about the decision to invite Trump \u2013 including whether the conglomerate was seeking to \u201ccurry favor\u201d with the administration.<\/p>\n
Warren, a Democrat for Massachusetts, said: \u201cCorruption is not a laughing matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s 39% tariff on Swiss exports to the US \u2013 significantly higher than his 15% rate on the European Union, or 10% on the UK \u2013 threatens to pile pressure on Rolex, one of the world\u2019s leading watch manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Dufour claimed that the invite to Trump, and other senior figures in his administration, was part of a broader focus on \u201cthe values of sport, sportsmanship and international friendship\u201d, rather than any \u201ccapitulation\u201d to the US president. \u201cRolex is not, nor has it ever been, engaged in any negotiation with the US government regarding tariffs,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
But Dufour described how Trump brought up the tariffs he had imposed on Switzerland, and Swiss exporters like Rolex, weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump, never one to miss a rhetorical opportunity, did ask in jest whether he would have been invited had it not been for the tariffs \u2013 a moment that brought a round of laughter all around and, as you can imagine, a swift return of attention to the unfolding excitement on court,\u201d Dufour wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo substantive discussion\u201d took place \u201cregarding tariffs, trade policy, or any other official matter\u201d during the US Open final, or since, he claimed.<\/p>\n
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile families are getting crushed by Trump\u2019s chaotic tariffs, Donald Trump and his rich friends are laughing about tariffs in a fancy box sponsored by a luxury watch brand,\u201d said Warren. \u201cHow much more out of touch can Trump be?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump was gifted \u201ca golf sweater and a sports gilet\u201d as \u201ca token of appreciation for attending the event\u201d, said Dufour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Donald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this month\u2019s US Open final from the luxury watchmaker\u2019s VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier. The US president\u2019s remarks were made \u201cin jest\u201d, stressed Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[7998,878,3277,2967,14663,14661,3866,12947,72,81,14662],"class_list":{"0":"post-24068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-affected","9":"tag-asked","10":"tag-ceo","11":"tag-executives","12":"tag-invite","13":"tag-jokingly","14":"tag-open","15":"tag-rolex","16":"tag-tariffs","17":"tag-trump","18":"tag-wouldve"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}