President Donald Trump made 327 stock purchases a day before his announcement that he was pausing his “Liberation Day” tariffs, sending the markets soaring, his financial disclosure report reveals.
The purchases were made on April 8, 2025, six days after Trump initiated a global trade war on April 2, slapping import taxes on goods from nearly every other country, which saw the markets tumble.
Trump bought between $100,001 and $250,000 in shares of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia on April 8, according to CNBC analysis of his financial disclosure.
Then, on the morning of April 9 before the markets opened, the president posted on Truth Social, “This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America, like Apple, and so many others, in record numbers, are doing.” A few minutes before the markets opened, he posted, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Later that morning, he announced he was pausing the trade tariffs for 90 days, and tech companies, including the ones Trump purchased stock in, saw their shares rebound.
Apple’s value had dropped four consecutive days on April 8, but jumped more than 15 percent on April 9, according to CNBC. Chipmaker Nvidia, which had shed more than 1 percent of its value on April 8, then rallied nearly 19 percent the next day, earning Trump a hefty windfall.
The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs in February, ruling that he does not have the authority to unilaterally impose them on nations under a federal emergency powers law.
Trump’s disclosure report has revealed that he’s made $2.2 billion during his second term, with $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency assets — an unprecedented windfall for a president, experts said.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
The moves and others by Trump and his eldest sons have sparked concerns about potential conflict of interest and abuse of power for self-enrichment. But White House spokesperson Anna Kelly denied any conflict of interest, telling CNBC that Trump “has a lot of assets because he was a massively successful businessman” before he became president. “All of the President’s assets are held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions,” Kelly said. “There are no conflicts of interest.”
Trump brushed off concerns that he was profiting on the presidency this week, telling reporters that his children and outside parties manage his finances. “I don’t get involved in my personal... we have funds that run my money,” he said.
The timing of the purchases has led to accusations of “corruption” from Democrats.
“This grift and corruption is staggering. Accountability is coming,” said Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado.
“In the first year of his presidency, Trump made more money than in the rest of his life combined,” said Sen. Adam Schiff of California. “Meanwhile, most Americans worked hard to just break even. This is the cost of corruption.”
“The problem that I think Trump and the Republicans have is that they think that because they’re transparent, and putting it out there, it’s not corrupt,” Democratic strategist Meghan Hays, who worked in the Biden administration, told The Hill.
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