Leaders around the world are seizing on U.S. President Donald Trump's deep love of golf, handing him golf clubs to win favor. The moves are seen as efforts to gain leverage in trade talks and foster a friendly atmosphere with Trump.
On the 28th, the Washington Post (WP), citing the State Department, reported, "During Trump's second term, at least eight countries gave him golf clubs as gifts," adding, "Wherever the U.S. president goes, top officials seem to have decided the best way to win him over is through the golf clubs he loves."
Trump's love of golf is widely known. Absent special events, he often spends entire weekends on the course, and he has posted multiple driver-shot videos on his social media, Truth Social. For that reason, golf clubs invariably appear in the gift bundles from foreign leaders.
On the eighth day after taking office, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who held a U.S.-Japan summit that day, presented Trump with several gifts, including a golf putter used by former Prime Minister Abe and a golf bag signed by Matsuyama Hideki, the first Japanese winner of a major golf tournament.
Earlier, on Aug. in Washington, President Lee Jae-myung also gave Trump a custom golf putter engraved with his term numbers, 45 and 47, during a White House visit. Trump is the 45th and 47th U.S. president. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met Trump last week, likewise handed over golf clubs donated by Kostyantyn Kartavtsev, a veteran of the Ukraine-Russia war.
During his first term as well, Trump received a variety of golf items. French President Emmanuel Macron gave a Louis Vuitton golf bag worth about $8,000 (about 11 million won), and Tarcisius Caviezel, the mayor of Davos, Switzerland, gave a hickory-wood putter worth about $450 (about 650,000 won). Those were items Trump reported himself, and beyond findings from a House Democratic investigation, additional instances of golf club gifts have since come to light.
This flurry of gifts is seen as a strategy to build amicable ties with the unpredictable Trump. He has imposed sudden, steep tariff not only on adversaries but also on some allies, and he has made personal feelings a key yardstick in diplomacy, such as by supporting $40 billion (about 57 trillion won) in bailout financing for Argentina, led by his ally Javier Milei.
As currying favor with Trump during his second term has grown more important, world leaders are offering not only golf gear but a range of gifts. In May, Qatar provided a Boeing 747 aircraft worth about $400 million for Trump to use as Air Force One (the presidential jet), sparking ethical controversy.
WP reported, "Leaders worldwide deploying gift diplomacy are generally steering toward personalizing the presents," adding, "Such calculations sometimes break with protocol and raise ethical questions that they are attempts to buy influence with the president."
However, Trump is not the only one to receive diplomatic gifts. Former President Joe Biden, when he visited Germany for the 2022 G7 summit, received items including a backpack, cards, a Montblanc pen, and assorted foodstuffs. Biden also enjoys golf, but unlike Trump, he has not publicly said he received golf-related gifts.