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 presentation 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 warn of a concerning display of deference and a lack of broad representation.
The gifts – described as reminiscent of the gifts brought to Jesus by the Three Wise Men – included gold, myrrh, and incense, according to observers. While the immediate impact of the meeting remains to be seen,experts fear the concessions discussed could bind Switzerland for years to come.
“We see an act wich is akin to a position of submission on the part of these business leaders,” stated Ludovic Iberg, a political science doctor specializing in “shadow diplomacy” of economic circles. “And which could commit Switzerland.”
Iberg further emphasized the limited scope of representation in the negotiations. ”Historically, employers’ organizations have had the function of ironing out differences… There, we see that large sectors of the Swiss economy were not represented. Machines, pharma, agri-food… 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.
Urs Thalmann, director of Transparency International Switzerland, echoed these concerns, calling the practices “worrying” and likening them to “medieval customs.”
The core issue,according to Iberg,is the lack of democratic accountability.”None of these six representatives has any diplomatic representation or is the subject of an elective mandate. However, the concessions they discussed in the Oval Office will hang like a specter over the rest of the negotiations. It will be difficult for Guy Parmelin or Karin Keller-sutter to go back on these concessions.”
He argues the gifts themselves, while symbolic, are secondary to the larger issue of unelected individuals potentially shaping Swiss policy. “These gifts are vital, but remain ‘of the order of the anecdote’ in the great story of these six billionaires… who will potentially commit the Swiss State for all the coming years.”
A full interview with Ludovic Iberg detailing these concerns is available here.
Sources: Radio subject: Valentin Jordil; Web text: Pierrik Jordan.
