Trump gloats over the gold trim in the Oval Office. Dork!

[Emrys]

37. Dictator chic, quite possibly sourced from Alibaba.com

I don't know or really care how much his interior designer charged, but it's yet another absolute Trumpian triumph for the Dealmaker In Chief:

Shop this look: Buy cheap, faux gold dupes of Oval Office decor
Some of the gold decorations in the Oval Office look... very similar to items we found for sale on a Chinese marketplace.

Since President Donald Trump moved back into the White House in January, it has undergone some major decorative changes. The Swedish ivy that perched upon the mantle has been replaced with golden vases from the White House collection. And the room, overall, has just gotten noticeably more shiny and gold.

Looking at photos taken in the Oval Office this week with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, we noticed several decorative medallions applied to the marble fireplace, and the same ones stuck on the wall under portraits in gilded frames.



Sometime after March, ornate gold decorative medallions were added to the cornice around the ceiling. The fact that several copies of the same decoration were showing up in different spots (made of different material) made us wonder where these were sourced and what they were made of.



A quick photo search on Alibaba showed many such “decorative appliqués” available in white and gold. We came across one item that looks very much like the ones all over the Oval Office.

This “High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories” from Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Material Limited on Alibaba is a dead ringer. The decorations are available in many colors: “matte white most, or gold, silver, antique gold or bronze, mixed color, customized color.”



The price? Between $1 and $5 apiece (but the minimum order is 50 items). And that isn’t accounting for the steep 145% tariffs that Trump recently slapped on Chinese imports.



As you can see from this comparison, this looks very close, but it may not be a perfect match. To be fair, it is certainly possible that Chinese manufacturers are copying a high-quality design from higher-end architectural suppliers, which provided the new decor to the White House.

I messaged the owners of Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Material Limited, and a customer service agent named Ruth Fu quickly responded to my question about the item’s availability.

“Hello Sir. Yes we have this model. Do you need gold color, please?”

I followed up to ask if that was indeed their product hanging in the Oval Office, but I did not hear back.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://sherwood.news/power/shop-this-look-buy-cheap-faux-gold-dupes-of-oval-office-decor/