WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump bought and sold at least $220 million worth of stocks linked to companies like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Tesla, whose executives he hosted at the White House during his visit to China last week.
The big-dollar trade has raised concerns among Democratic lawmakers and ethics advocates, who argue the transaction represents a conflict of interest for the president. Many companies are regulated by the federal government or may benefit from Trump’s involvement in official conferences.
But the president’s company, the Trump Organization, said their accounts are managed by third-party financial institutions without any input from Trump or his family.
“Neither President Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments,” the Trump Organization said in a statement. “They receive no advance notice of trading activity and have no input regarding investment decisions or any type of portfolio management.”
Stock purchases and sales were widely reported to the US Government Ethics Office. The total value of transactions during the first three months of the year ranged from $220 million to nearly $750 million. But the reports offer a snapshot of investments rather than tallying profits and losses from overall holdings or specific transactions.
Stock trading promoting companies
The transaction reflects the wide overlap of companies that Trump promoted at the White House and on his visit to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping. Trump made no secret of bringing top executives like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk on Air Force One for his China trip.
Trump said on social media that he was urging Xi to “open up” China to foreign businesses, including Boeing and GE Aerospace and financial services companies such as Citigroup, MasterCard and Visa.
Trump announced on the first flight that China had agreed to buy hundreds of new Boeing jets and GE engines. Their accounts had bought at least $1 million of Boeing stock and sold at least $500,000 during the first quarter. He also bought at least $80,000 in GE Aerospace.
During the visit, journalists asked questions of the officials, who said that everything went well.
“The meetings went well,” Huang said. “Mr. Xi and President Trump were incredible.”
Asked what had been accomplished, Musk said: “A lot of good things.”
According to the ethics report, Trump’s accounts purchased at least $2 million and up to $7 million in Nvidia stock during the first quarter. The accounts also sold at least $1.8 million in Nvidia stock during that period.
One of these purchases – worth at least $1 million on February 10 – came a week before Nvidia announced a strategic partnership with Facebook’s parent company Meta, which included cloud storage and infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
Conflict of interest questions
Trump had urged lawmakers to approve legislation banning trading in individual stocks during his State of the Union address to Congress in February. He argued that MPs should not be allowed to “make profits in corrupt ways by using inside information”.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., agreed. But he said the president and vice president should also be banned from trading individual stocks.
Takano said, “He’s the last person to lecture Americans or anyone about transparency while in office.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a non-profit advocacy group in Washington, said on social media that “Presidents are not supposed to be day traders.”
Reporting by Bart Jensen, USA TODAY. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.