Cameroon timber Recent presidents have stayed away from trading stocks in companies whose fortunes they could lift or scuttle with the stroke of a pen, but Donald Trump smashed that precedent in the first quarter of this year with more than 3,600 buy and sell orders, many of them involving companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions as head of the government. Among the Trump trades in a recent report filed with a federal ethics agency was as much as USD 6 million in Nvidia, whose advanced chips Trump approved for sale to China last year. His portfolio also scooped up stocks of several US military suppliers impacted by the Iran war, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. “If he were defence secretary, he would be committing a crime,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics adviser in the George W Bush administration and a big critic of congressional trading, too. “Technically he can do this, but it is fundamental breach of trust.”
US law bans federal employees from holding financial assets that could be impacted by their policy work, but there is a carveout for the president. A spokesperson for the Trump family business said the president’s portfolio is handled by third parties that have “sole and exclusive” authority to make investment decisions. “Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments,” spokesperson Kimberly Benza said in a statement.
“They receive no advance notice of trading activity and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio management. Ethics officials have pointed out that just the knowledge of what’s in his portfolio is problematic because it could impact the president’s decisions on everything from health policy to government contracting to war. The stock trading report filed with the federal Office of Government Ethics runs more than 100 pages, and shows possibly more than USD 100 million changing hands over three months as stocks were bought and sold at rapid fire pace – an average of 50 trades every day markets were open. The report shows more purchases than sales, but the precise ratio is impossible to determine because exact figures for each transaction are not given, just ranges. Trump has traditionally had very little invested in the stock market relative to his net worth, but that could be changing along with his ballooning wealth, which has included a big cash infusion. Since he became president again, the Trump Organization has taken in tens of millions in upfront fees from overseas developers that want to put his name on resorts and hundreds of millions from cryptocurrency sales, mostly anonymous, making it impossible to know if the purchaser were trying to curry favor with the president.
All recent US presidents have dumped their stocks before assuming office, put their money in broadly diversified funds or set up a “blind” trust so they couldn’t even know what they owned. The blind trust route was taken by George HW Bush, then Bill Clinton. George W. Bush, the son, dumped his stocks. Barack Obama was in broadly diversified mutual funds. Joe Biden didn’t trade.
In addition to Nvidia, the president’s portfolio includes shares in Apple, Boeing and Tesla. The CEOs of all four companies accompanied Trump on his visit to China recently. The portfolio also includes Intel, the chipmaker in which the government took a 10 per cent stake last year. Among many others, the portfolio of the fast-food loving president recently added stock in Shake Shack, Papa John’s and Cheesecake Factory. Many of the trades were in shares of US companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions as head of the government. All modern US presidents before Trump avoided trading in stocks because it looked dirty given their power to lift or crush the fortunes of the companies behind them, so this is another case his thumbing his nose at precedent. All modern US presidents have stayed away from trading in stocks because it looked dirty given their power to lift or crush the fortunes of the companies behind them.
Donald Trump is not only breaking that precedent, he’s smashing it up. A report from a federal government ethics agency shows that President Trump’s portfolio bought and sold more than 3,500 times in the first three months this year. It’s a record impressive for both the number of transactions and for many of the trading targets – US companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his personal decisions.