Swiss Billionaires’ Gifts to Trump Spark Democracy Concerns
WASHINGTON D.C.- A November 4, 2025 meeting between five Swiss business leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office,including the โpresentation of gifts,is raising serious questions about democratic legitimacy and potential long-term commitments for Switzerland. The meeting and accompanying gestures are drawing criticism from transparency advocates and political scientists who โคwarn of a concerning display ofโฃ deference and a lack of broad โขrepresentation.
The gifts – described as reminiscent โขof the gifts brought to Jesus by the Three Wise Men – included gold, myrrh, and incense, according to observers. While the immediate โฃimpact of the meeting remains โคtoโค be seen,experts fear the concessions discussed โขcould bind โSwitzerland for โyears โฃto come.
“We see an โฃact wich is akin to a position of submission on the part of these business leaders,” stated Ludovic โขIberg, a political โคscience doctor specializing inโฃ “shadow diplomacy” ofโ economic circles. “And which could commit Switzerland.”
Iberg further emphasized the limited scope of representation in the negotiations. โ”Historically, employers’ organizations have had the function of ironing out โdifferencesโฆ There, we see that large sectors of the Swiss economy were not represented. Machines, pharma, agri-foodโฆ So this poses a problem in terms of representativeness.” He asserted the six billionaires present were acting on specific sector interests, not collective economic ones.
Ursโข Thalmann, director of Transparency International Switzerland, echoed these โconcerns, calling the practices “worrying”โฃ and likening them to “medieval customs.”
The โขcore โคissue,according to Iberg,is the lack ofโ democratic accountability.”None of these six representatives has any diplomatic representation or is the subject of an elective โฃmandate. However, the concessionsโ they discussed in the Oval Office will hang likeโ a specter overโข the restโ of the negotiations. Itโฃ will be difficult for Guy Parmelin or Karin Keller-sutter to โขgo back on these concessions.”
He argues the gifts themselves, whileโข symbolic, are secondary to the larger issue of unelected individuals potentially shaping Swiss policy. “These gifts are vital, but โremain ‘of the order of the anecdote’ in the great story of โคthese six billionairesโฆ whoโค will potentially commit the โคSwiss โคState for all the coming years.”
A full interview with Ludovic Iberg detailing these concerns is available here.
Sources: Radio subject: Valentin Jordil; โฃWeb text: Pierrikโฃ Jordan.
