Beers’ head says Donald Trump’s diamond rates are not for the benefit of US jobs

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The largest head of the world’s largest diamond company has expressed confidence that the United States will eliminate the rates of precious stones that they think are “no benefit” for the country.

At Cook, Beers’s CEO, he told Financial Times that there was no “United States diamond mining work to protect” and that the company had had discussions with various governments on this subject.

The rates were of “no benefit” for the United States and “would be just a consumer tax on the North -American consumer,” he said. “There would be no work created.”

The United States is the largest market in the world for diamond jewelry, which represents about half of global demand, but does not have a domestic mining or known commercial deposits of the stones.

The rates announced last month by President Donald Trump have launched the diamond industry in the crisis and briefly brought the jewelry trade to a “stop”, according to market participants.

The World Diamond Council, a pressure group representing the industry, has warned today that $ 117 million in annual revenue and 200,000 North -American jobs in the jewelry sector would be at risk if the United States did not eliminate the rates on stones.

“Diamonds’ rates would official as a consumer tax, increasing prices in commitment rings, birthday gifts and other jewelry,” the group said in a statement on Monday that he urged the White House to exempt the jewelry of the new import functions.

The diamonds entering the United States are subject to the 10 percent rate on all imported goods and face a variable tax based on the country that has been suspended for 90 days.

Many raw materials were excluded from the rates, but diamonds did not add it, adding to pain for an industry that had a fall in demand and competence of synthetic diamonds, which can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost.

Because diamonds are so small and valuable, they are often flown worldwide in a complex supply chain that extends from mines in countries like Botswana or Angola, to Indian polishing centers, in China’s jewelry stores or in the United States, which make them very likely to trade.

The unpleasant market conditions and tariff disorders occur at a particularly sensitive time for Beers, as they are preparing to leave their parent company, Anglo-American, Anglo-American, either through an initial sale or through an initial public offer.

Cook said Anglo will launch a formal selling process for Beers “very soon”. The company is prepared simultaneously for an OIP that could take place earlier next year, he added.

De Beers reported income from the first quarter of $ 520 million, which was 44 percent below the same period of the year before lower prices and sales volumes.

Anglo American has twice scored the value De Beers in the last two years, taking up a $ 2.9 million deterioration position in the diamond unit in February and a deterioration of $ 1.6 million a year.

Cook acknowledged that the rates had “an impact” on the diamond industry, but said that “it was not as drastic as it could have been.”

“People are confident enough that in the long term, diamonds will be exempt from rates,” he said.

“The United States has been clear that natural resources produced outside the United States are not the tariffs’ goals.”

Cook’s comments occur after the White House has given some land on the rates by giving exemptions of items such as smartphones and automatic components.

The positive noise of commercial conversations between the United States and India – the world’s great polishing polishing – also suggest that there may be a rescue.

A commercial agreement between New Delhi and Washington could relieve one of the key points in the diamond supply chain, because India polishs more than 90 percent of the world’s diamonds and is a significant exporter in the United States.