U.S. ethics watchdog reveals Trump traded more than 1,000 stocks, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest
The latest information disclosed by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) shows that U.S. President Trump and his investment advisers conducted more than 3,600 stock transactions in the first quarter of this year, and the amount involved may reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Since the transaction targets include a number of technology and defense giants that are directly affected by the U.S. government’s industrial policies, tariff licenses, and arms sales contracts, this move has triggered strong doubts about potential conflicts of interest in the U.S. legal and public opinion circles. According to disclosed documents, the relevant transactions cover NVIDIA ( (Apple), (Boeing), (Tesla) and (Intel) and many other well-known American companies. Among them, the transaction size for chip manufacturing giant Nvidia alone is as high as US$6 million, and the US government has previously approved the company to export related chip products to overseas markets; in addition, Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin, (General Dynamics) and Northrop Grumman (Northrop Grumman) and many other military contractor stocks involved in the situation in the Middle East. Legal and ethics experts point out that Trump’s frequent stock trading breaks the practice of previous U.S. presidents. In the past, U.S. leaders usually liquidated their individual stock holdings before assuming their duties, placed them in a blind trust, or held only broad-based index funds to avoid the intersection of public power and personal financial interests. Experts emphasize that even if the president does not directly issue trading instructions, understanding his own position portfolio may still exert an implicit influence on the government's policy decisions in the fields of industrial regulation, government procurement, diplomacy and military affairs. In the face of external doubts, a spokesman for the Trump family business issued a statement saying that the relevant assets are fully managed by a third-party independent agency. Trump himself and his family did not participate in specific investment decisions, nor were they informed of the transaction details in advance. However, critics point out that in the absence of transparency and substantial isolation mechanisms, such high-frequency trading will continue to increase the credibility risk of the U.S. government's decision-making.