Belgian diamond group that won tariff relief gifted Trump a lavishly encrusted ring

RING’S VALUE ESTIMATED AT US$25,000-US$35,000

To forge the ring, the AWDC turned to David Gotlib, an Antwerp-based high-end jeweller whose cufflinks can sell for more than 15,000 euros (US$17,000).

Neither AWDC nor Gotlib would provide a valuation of the ring, but two independent jewellers told AP they estimated the value between US$25,000 and US$35,000.

Paris- and London-based jewellry consultant Alexander Levinson calculated the cost at US$25,928, while David Saad, a third-generation luxury jeweller in Canada, priced the ring between US$33,000 and US$35,000. Both said half the cost was in materials, half in labour.

After the ring was presented on a star-spangled stage in Brussels, musician Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sang the US national anthem to more than 8,000 people drinking Budweiser and bourbon from Tennessee and Kentucky.

White said he raised more than US$5.5 million for the 250th anniversary event from corporate sponsors like defense industry titans Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, tech firms like Intel, Google and Meta, as well as the European chocolate companies Leonidas and Ferrero. AWDC said it contributed funds, too.

“The media was asking, ‘Why does it have to be so big?’” White said of the event. “Because we are the United States of America!”

Meanwhile, the fate of the ring is not currently clear.

On Wednesday, White posted a photo online of himself wearing the ring and giving a thumbs-up. The post has since been deleted.