Diplomatic Gifts: From the Statue of Liberty to Modern Pandas

The Statue of Liberty, conceived by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and liberal politician Édouard Laboulaye, was offered by France to the United States in the late 19th century as a symbol of friendship and a reminder of France’s role in American independence. Bartholdi and Laboulaye hoped the monument would strengthen Franco-American ties.

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Career diplomat Paul Brummell, author of *Diplomatic Gifts: A History in Fifty Presents*, notes that modern offerings are “low-key” compared with historic gestures such as the Trojan horse. China’s “panda diplomacy” began after President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit, when giant pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, drawing over a million visitors in the first month and softening U.S. public perception of China. President Xi Jinping repeated the practice this week, sending two pandas to the Atlanta zoo as an “envoy of friendship.” In contrast, President Donald Trump presented Xi with a bronze bald-eagle sculpture, the United States’ national emblem. Other long-standing gifts include Japan’s 3,020 cherry trees to Washington, D.C. (1912), Oslo’s annual Christmas tree to London (since 1947), and the Netherlands’ 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada (annual).

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Gift diplomacy can backfire. A 2009 “reset” button given by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Russia was mistranslated as “overcharge,” highlighting the risk of diplomatic embarrassment. Peter Ricketts, former British ambassador to France, describes diplomatic gifts as “a complete pain,” noting that items above a few pounds must be declared and can become a source of awkwardness for politicians.

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• “It was personal, historic, a lovely object and it was gold coloured – President Trump loved it,” — Ricketts. The (Peter Ricketts)

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