6

Recently, in G7 meeting, Modi of India gave various gifts to his counterparts.

I was wondering if POTUS Mr. Biden does the same?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

Yes, the office of the US President does participate in gift exchanges, along with pretty much every other world Head of State and/or Head of Government. Since personal gifts aren't technically allowed from foreign governments to US officials (if the item is expensive and the recipient wants to keep it, they must buy it back from the government personally), the process is somewhat involved. The US State Department periodically releases lists of the gifts passed over, which occasionally generates news stories when there are interesting items, or possible corruption issues.

Here are some recent examples:

  • From 2017 covering UK-US exchanges.
  • From 2020
  • From 2021 covering some recent scandals, including a G7 event
Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    IIRC from other question in this site (which I seem unable to find now), in contrast with other countries, presents from the POTUS are actually paid by the POTUS (and not "reimbursable"), which leads to them being somewhat cheap when comparing with gifts from other heads of state.
    – SJuan76
    Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 23:07
  • I am accepting this answer for now. But if an answer provides information on what Mr. Biden gifted, I will change the accepted answer to that one. What @SJuan76 wrote on "gifts not being reimbursable" is an extra information which is really interesting because in my country that seldom happens. Moreover, Mr. Trump might be able to buy things which Mr. Biden might not be able to afford.
    – Gary 2
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 6:21
  • @Gary2 the collated lists are produced in arrears so you may have to wait a while for this year's G7 summit to feature. While Mr. Biden's net worth is (probably) a fraction of Mr. Trumps, he is a multmillionare, and his gifts so far haven't appeared limited by budget (e.g. gifting a $1,500 bicycle to Boris Johnson last year bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57453840)
    – origimbo
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 13:00
  • It's generally considered good practice at least to summarise the content of links, in case they move or disappear. A summary might include total value, a broad break-down, and some notable items.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 14:38

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .