A Rolex, a gold bar, a trade deal and the ethics of presidential gifts

At a recent gathering of Swiss business executives in the White House, the CEO of Rolex presented President Trump with a gold-plated desk clock.

The CEO of a precious-metals company presented the president with an engraved gold bar.

They were not the official representatives of Switzerland’s economic agenda – but the following week, their government announced a trade deal that drastically lowered the U.S. tariff on imported Swiss goods from 39 percent to 15 percent – now on par with the European Union.

So were the gifts appropriate for the U.S. president to accept?

We hear from University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter – formerly the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.

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This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Brianna Scott, with audio engineering from Simon Laslo-Jansson. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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