Would you turn down a $400m plane?
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The royal family of Qatar wants to gift US President Donald Trump a private jet. It's estimated to cost around $400 million. It comes from the royal family's private fleet, so is very much fit for a king. President Trump, he wants to accept it, and he said that anyone who refused it would be a stupid person.

That's not gone down well in the United States. Critics say that Qatar is essentially giving the plane as a bribe to secure influence in the U.S. And they point out that during his first term in office, President Trump actually accused Qatar's government of funding terror groups. The criticism is coming from President Trump's longtime opponents and even from some of his Republican allies.

I'm William Lee Adams, and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service. Today we're asking, why does President Trump want the jet so badly? And what's appropriate to give the president as a gift? Here to tell us more about that is our reporter in New York City, Natalia Jimenez. Natalia, hello. Hi, how are you? I'm very well, thank you. So first things first, who wants to gift this jet to President Trump?

So the Qatari royal family recently offered up this jet. It's a Boeing 747-8, and the best way to describe it would be luxury. It's even been called a flying palace. So it's fair to say it's pretty decked out. But the plan itself is to give this jet to the U.S. government, not President Trump himself. That's been a point of confusion. So the plan is to give this jet to the Department of Defense—

And then they will commission it as an Air Force One holdover. And that's because the Trump administration has said that their Air Force One jets are too outdated. They've actually commissioned Boeing to build two previously in the first term, but there's been some delays with that. So the goal with this jet is for it to be used in the meantime, right?

So, this actually isn't being given directly to Trump, but the U.S. government. So, why is Qatar even doing this in the first place?

Experts say it's not charity. There's definitely some vested interest. I mean, there's a big U.S. military facility in Qatar today. There's regional competition. They want to stay close to the U.S. economically and militarily. So this is their way of saying, hey, we're on your side and we have money to show for it.

And Natalia, as we mentioned up top, that's not gone down well with the American public or indeed with leaders on both sides of the aisle. And amid mounting criticism, President Trump went on Fox News and he asked, why wouldn't I accept it? Are there any other reasons why it's controversial for him to accept this jet?

Yeah, I mean, the response has been on both sides pretty negative. And the argument here is twofold. Some of Trump's Republican allies are saying, "Listen, you're taking a gift from a foreign government that shouldn't be trusted." In the past, Trump has said that Qatar has been linked with, quote-unquote, "terrorist organizations," so using a jet for U.S. government purposes and that jet being given

given by a foreign country that hasn't been trusted in the past is a problem. It's a security risk. Why would you do that in the first place? That's the argument from the Republican side. Whereas the Democrats are saying, "Listen, we're going to block a lot of these Department of Justice nominees who approved this or signed this off

preliminarily in the first place, because it just is not following the law. There's a clause in the Constitution that says if you are the president or a high-ranking federal official, you are not allowed to take any gifts from a foreign government without the express approval of Congress.

But the Trump administration has pushed back and said, no, this is not a gift to President Trump. This is a gift to the U.S. government that will then be handed over to the presidential library that Trump is going to build. So it's technically not going to be in his hands. But they say that's just—they—

the people who oppose it, they say that's just a nuance because at the end of the day, what's a presidential library if not a branding opportunity? This plane will eventually end up on the grounds of Trump's presidential library. This, of course, is after the retrofitting and security procedures to make it flyable. My question is this, what's the point? What's the point if it will only be in the air for a few weeks, a few months?

That's a lot of people's questions right now. Why go through with it if essentially the retrofitting of this jet is going to take years? It may not even play into a lot of time left in the Trump administration. It might just go directly to the library. Now, the Trump administration is touting the idea that this is the most effective way to get a jet in the air, to have state-of-the-art technology and to represent the American people well.

But the angle that the media is taking is they're really wondering why this is actually happening in the first place. Why are we taking such a big gift from a foreign government, especially one that the Trump administration has criticized in the past? So people are trying to really figure out the intentions behind this move. But again, it's all about the big. It's all about the glorious. It's all about the luxury. That's playing perfectly into the kind of Trump narrative so far. Natalia, thanks so much for explaining that. Thank you so much for having me.

As Natalia said, Catter says it's a gift for the administration, not Donald Trump as an individual. Either way, it's a pretty expensive gift. But it may not be the most memorable. John F. Kennedy was gifted a horse. Ronald Reagan received a pair of Komodo dragons and a baby elephant. And President George W. Bush was given 136 kilograms of raw lamb meat from Argentina's president.

But enough about American leaders. Let's hear from BBC reporters from around the world about the rules surrounding gift-giving from China to Mexico and beyond. First up is Sean Yuen, a senior reporter at the Global China Unit. In Chinese politics, gift-giving isn't just discouraged, it is actually tightly controlled. Officials are banned from accepting valuable gifts, especially coming from those who might have an interest in their decision-making.

That means no cash, no luxury items, and definitely not an aircraft from a foreign government. So technically, anything that is above a very low threshold has to be declared and then handed over to the state. In some local government offices, there are even official gift registers. All of these rules are part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, which has brought down thousands of officials.

Take Lin Ji-Hua as an example, a former top aide to the former president Hu Jintao. He was taken down in 2016 after investigators uncovered a web of bribery, oftentimes disguised as gifts such as property, cars, and favors for his family, etc. But critics have said that it is actually more than just ethics. It is also a way of tightening control and removing potential rivals.

So all that to say, gift giving is possible in China. It could still happen. But if you are an official for the Chinese Communist Party, even a small gesture can be a very big risk. Hi, my name is Jason Lee and I'm a journalist working for the BBC World Service.

In South Korea, a landmark anti-bribery law came into force in 2016. It's the strictest of its kind to date. The law prohibits civil servants, including politicians, from receiving gifts worth more than 50,000 Korean won, that's about $35 or 27 pounds.

And in most cases, this even applies to their spouses. And this is significant because some of the most notable bribery cases in South Korea involve the country's president and their families. One case that's been gripping the nation for months is the allegation that the former

former first lady Kim Gun-hee, who is the wife of the recently impeached President Yoon Sung-yeol, received a luxury dealer handbag from a pastor. Another former president, Roh Moo-hyun, took his own life not too long after leaving office after investigators closed in on accusations that he accepted $6 million in bribes, including an expensive watch that his wife allegedly received.

This is Laura Gazzi. She covers Europe. Rows around politicians accepting gifts in Europe can be pretty strict. In Italy, for example, politicians can only accept very small and symbolic gifts of a value of up to 150 euros.

In general, gifts from foreign officials must be declared or handed over to the state. Otherwise, the risk for politicians is that they will face criminal charges like corruption. In France, the rules are also very strict. Again, the idea is that politicians should not accept anything that could possibly influence their decision-making and policies. And taking gifts in exchange for favours is a crime and can result in fines or prison. In 2022, a major corruption scandal erupted in the European Parliament in Brussels.

It was dubbed Qatargate. It turned out that several MEPs had been bribed by Qatari and Moroccan officials to influence EU policies. They were given cash payments, gifts, VIP trips to luxury locations. And hundreds of thousands of euros were even found in the homes of some MEPs who were later charged with corruption.

Hi, my name is Marco Ochoa-Kafo and I'm a reporter from Lagos, Nigeria. Now in Nigeria and many African countries, politicians and public officials can legally and freely accept gifts. This is because of the cultural context around gift giving and taking gifts on the continent. When you're visiting important dignitaries or friends or families, you are expected sort of to come with a gift, sort of a way to show respect to the person you're coming to visit.

However, this subject has actually been a little bit tricky for many politicians and the public. The Nigeria Code of Conduct for Public Officials does state explicitly that public officials and politicians cannot accept gifts from the public or from contractors if it's going to influence their official duties or their official decisions.

But because of how tricky the subject of gift giving and what can constitute as bribery and corruption is, it's been very tricky to hold public officials down to this subject. In Ghana in 2016, the president of the country then, which is John Mahama, who currently is the president of the country now, came under public scrutiny and there was a controversy around a vehicle, a Ford vehicle that he accepted from a contractor who was from Burkina Faso.

Now, it was said that people thought that that particular gift influenced that particular contractor to get lots of contracts, including building a wall around the Ghana embassy in Burkina Faso. Now, the judicial agency in charge did sit on the case and they said categorically that they feel like he violated the country's

And finally, Laura Garcia, she's a reporter who covers Latin America. Many countries around Latin America have passed laws in the last 50 years or so to regulate or forbid presidents and people in position of power from accepting gifts.

And sometimes that legislation comes after a big case or a scandal that made it super obvious that that legislation was needed. For example, in my home country of Mexico, these laws started back in the 80s. The president who was in office at the time, José López Portillo, was given a ranch as a gift, like a whole ranch with land and stuff by a group of politicians and businessmen who wanted something in return.

Not only did he refuse the gift, he turned down the ranch, but he also supported lawmakers to introduce legislation to limit the value of the gifts that people could accept. The law in Mexico has changed a couple times since then and there's been a couple of scandals about presidents being given a truck as a gift or multiple crates of tequila. And now in theory they're completely banned, not just for presidents but also for public officials.

Further south, Argentina also has an interesting history with presidential gifts. Their iconic controversial moment came in the 90s when the president at the time, Carlos Menem, was given a gorgeous red Ferrari by this Italian businessman who was looking to get a deal in Argentina. Now since then, Argentina has also passed laws that limit the value of gifts that presidents can accept. Thanks for listening to another episode of What in the World from the BBC World Service. I'm William Lee Adams. We'll see you again soon.