A diamond-studded ring given to Donald Trump weeks before Belgian diamonds received tariff relief has prompted Democratic senators to question whether gifts are influencing White House trade decisions.

A pair of Democratic US senators has some questions for Belgium’s diamond industry after it gave President Donald Trump what they said appears to be a “cartoonish bribe”.

On Monday, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter inquiring about a “watch-sized, 18-karat gold ring encrusted with 321 diamonds and 75 gemstones” that the president had been gifted in late June by the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), a lobbying group for Belgian diamond-makers.

The custom ring, emblazoned with a gem-encrusted presidential seal, diamond emblems with the initial ‘T’, and an interior engraving that reads “Crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump”, is estimated to be worth $25,000–35,000.

“A very special thank you to my friends from Antwerp for the magnificent Freedom 250 ring,” Trump said in a video message during an event in Brussels upon receiving the gift at an event commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Just weeks later, the administration announced it was exempting European diamonds from Trump’s sweeping tariff regime, which he was attempting to........

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