President Donald Trump’s gaudy ballroom may be costlier than expected, as gold prices hit a record high on Monday.
The gold-loving president boasted on Sunday that he had added “some of the highest-quality 24-karat gold” in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, as part of his renovations to the White House.
Meanwhile, the next day, gold prices surged past $3,800 an ounce, driven in part by fears of a U.S. government shutdown.
This comes as construction begins this month on the president’s most ambitious renovation yet—a ballroom projected to be larger than the White House.
Announced in July as a 90,000-square-foot “ornately designed and carefully crafted space” with seating for 650 people, Trump has since said he plans to make the ballroom even larger, with capacity for 900 people and spanning about 150,000 square feet.
In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that the president has brought in a “gold guy” to assist with the White House makeover. Trump himself told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, “You’ve never been able to match gold with gold paint—that’s why it’s gold.”
New renderings reveal that the 79-year-old’s gold obsession will dominate the interior of the lavish ballroom, with gilded chandeliers, chairs, and gold accents covering nearly every corner.
However, the president may not need to worry about the price of gold, as the White House told the Daily Beast it has already received $200 million in pledges for the project. CBS News reported that the donor list includes corporations such as Google, R.J. Reynolds, Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir, NextEra Energy, and Lockheed Martin, though the White House declined to comment on the list.
YouTube on Monday agreed to pay a $24.5 million settlement to Trump after suspending his account following the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riots. According to court documents, $22 million of that amount will go toward “supporting the construction of the White House State Ballroom.”
Following Monday’s record-high gold prices, gold fell to $3,805.99 per ounce on Tuesday. Still, a government shutdown looms after a meeting between top congressional Democrats and Republicans ended without a breakthrough.
“I don’t worry about that,” Trump told Politico in response to a question about whether he is concerned that Americans might turn against him in the event of a shutdown.
A government shutdown is set to begin at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, unless an agreement is reached.
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