De Beers CEO Al Cook says he’s confident the US will exempt diamonds from reciprocal tariffs.He told the FT they were of “no benefit”, given that there are no US diamond mining jobs to protect, and that they would function as nothing more than a tax on American consumers.”People are confident enough that in the long term, diamonds will be exempted from tariffs,” he told the FT, indicating that an exemption may happen, but not immediately.

Cook echoed the views of World Diamond Council president Feriel Zerouki, who is urging the Trump administration to exclude natural diamonds from a tariff due to be implemented on 9 July, when a 90-day pause expires.

Diamonds, along with almost all other goods from all other countries, are currently subject to a baseline levy of 10 per cent on entry to the US, payable by the importer.

Cook, and many others, are calling for diamonds to be exempted from the additional burden of reciprocal tariffs, set at 26 per cent for India, by far the biggest supplier of polished stones, and on a sliding scale for other trading partners.

The US is the world’s largest diamond jewelry market by far, but has no domestic diamond mining industry.

“This is not about special treatment, this is about recognizing the unique structure of a global industry with no domestic production and ensuring policies support American businesses and consumers,” Zerouki said last week.

An exemption would help safeguard the $117bn US jewelry industry and protect the jobs of over 200,000 Americans, she said.

In a keynote address at the opening of the Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional meeting, Feriel Zerouki, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), urged participants to focus on expanding the definition of conflict diamonds, while recognizing the vital role of industry efforts to strengthen and complement the KP framework.

Zerouki acknowledged the significant contributions made by the diamond industry to reinforce the KP’s mission. Industry has not waited. We have introduced ethical standards, traceability frameworks, public reporting, sustainability principles and blockchain-based traceability solutions, she stated All of these were created to strengthen the work of the KP. But there are limits to what industry can do. Only the KP member states have the legitimacy and reach to address the gaps that no single stakeholder can fill alone.

She called on participants to embrace compromise in the pursuit of progress. “Let us not make perfect the enemy of the good. What matters is what we can achieve in this review cycle. If we succeed, we lay the foundation for more progress in the next. We owe it to the past that brought us here, the present that challenges us, and the future that depends on us,” she said.

The Dubai Intersessional is the mid-year face-to-face meeting of the Kimberley Process, hosted by the United Arab Emirates as 2024 Chair of the KP. It convenes participants and observers including government representatives from 86 countries, industry leaders represented by the WDC, and NGOs represented by the Civil Society Coalition. Together, they review progress, address challenges and advance collective efforts to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond supply chain.

The WDC acknowledges and thanks the UAE Ministry of Economy and KP Chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem for their leadership and generous hospitality.

Russia’s finance ministry is thinking about buying more rough diamonds from Alrosa, the country’s biggest diamond mining company. This comes after Alrosa’s sales dropped by 42% in the first part of 2025, down to $709 million. The main reasons for this drop are Western sanctions, less demand for natural diamonds, and more people buying lab-grown diamonds instead.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the government might buy Alrosa’s unsold diamonds for Gokhran, which is Russia’s state treasure of precious metals and gems. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this-Russia has bought diamonds from Alrosa before to help the company during tough times.

Alrosa’s sales have fallen sharply from $1.15 billion in Q1 2021, before the Ukraine conflict triggered sweeping G7 and EU sanctions. The company has responded by suspending operations at less profitable deposits and planning staff cuts as inventories and debt rise. Government support through Gokhran purchases could help stabilize the miner as market challenges persist.Because of these problems, Alrosa has also had to pause work at some of its less profitable mines and plans to reduce staff. Government support by buying diamonds could help Alrosa survive while the diamond market is struggling