Podcast: Chaos in the Diamond Industry

The Rapaport team looked back at diamond marketing, tariffs and the impact of US President Donald Trump in a special end-of-year podcast episode.

Rapaport Managing Editor Leah Meirovich and Senior Analyst Joshua Freedman thrashed out the events of 2025, discussing how celebrity engagements, Trump’s import duties and developments at De Beers had affected the industry.

Both agreed it had been a chaotic year that proved how sensitive the diamond trade was to external factors. Joshua explained how the market had bifurcated this year, with large, fancy-shaped, US-based diamonds outperforming smaller, round, India-located goods. Leah analyzed the Luanda Accord, which called for an industry-wide marketing fund. They also picked their favorite recent diamond ads and spoke about the changing impact of lab-grown stones.

Finally, Joshua and Leah talked about the effects of high gold prices and selected the most fun stories of the year — which, unsurprisingly, included two high-profile heists and the curious case of a missing diamond that resurfaced after a century.

Listen to the episode here:

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