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.