Bernard Arnault said a wind of optimism is blowing through the US after Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, in contrast to his native France, where the government is seeking to raise corporate taxes instead of cutting spending.
“There’s a different mood” between the two countries, the French billionaire told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of LVMH’s annual results, at one point comparing his return to France to a cold shower.
Arnault singled out for praise the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting effort that’s being led by Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. “We should do like the US and name somebody to slash bureaucracy,” he said.
The 75-year-old luxury mogul could be seen last week standing next to tech billionaires and Argentine President Javier Milei at Trump’s inauguration in Washington. The controlling shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE attended with his wife Helene and two of his five children, Delphine, 49, and Alexandre, 32.
“Who would refuse an invitation from the US president to attend his inauguration?” Arnault asked, saying he has known every president since Ronald Reagan and has been acquainted with Trump personally for a long time. “Trump was elected with an incredible majority,” he added.
Trump, who swept each of the hotly contested electoral swing states, was the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years, winning 49.8 percent of ballots cast compared with 48.3 percent for his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
Arnault and Trump have known each other since the French entrepreneur first came to New York in the early 1980s, fleeing a Socialist government in France and seeking to start a real estate business, an endeavour that wasn’t successful.
The ties have endured — Trump last year told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview that Arnault was an “incredible guy, a friend of mine.” LVMH, meantime, generates a quarter of its revenue from the US, which would likely leave the firm vulnerable to any import tariffs Trump might impose on the European Union.
Arnault declined to say whether he’d spoken about the risk of tariffs with Trump since his election.
Investors are hoping the US will be a bright spot for luxury this year to counterbalance the demand downturn in China.
When Trump won his first presidential election eight years ago, Arnault and Alexandre went to congratulate him at Trump Tower shortly after.
In 2019, Arnault and Trump inaugurated a Louis Vuitton leather goods plant in Texas as Arnault sought to prove his group was also willing to create production jobs in the US.
The ties extend to the wider families. Early in 2023, the younger Arnault and his wife attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, while Trump’s daughter Ivanka attended the opening of a New York fashion boutique last year by Alexandre’s wife Geraldine.
Melania Trump wore LVMH’s Dior on election day and during the inauguration weekend, and Ivanka also wore a Dior outfit and a gown by Givenchy, another LVMH label, at inauguration celebrations.
Arnault’s wealth is estimated at about $207 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him Europe’s wealthiest person.
US authorities are seeking to get LVMH to continue to expand manufacturing there, he said. “In the current environment, it’s something we’re looking at seriously,” Arnault told reporters Tuesday.
By Angelina Rascouet
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