Trump sets a record for share trading: he has outstripped all MPs put together
Since he became president, he or his managers have carried out 28,700 transactions, according to Bloomberg, compared with 22,200 by senators and MPs
Donald Trump has set a new record: for the trading of shares. Since becoming president – or, to be precise, over the 17 months up to June – he and his financial advisers have carried out 28,700 share trading transactions. This is well over six thousand more than the 22,200 transactions carried out by all members of parliament combined – 19,400 by MPs and 2,900 by senators. The data was compiled and analysed by Bloomberg.
The extent of his activity on the financial markets, centred on the buying and selling of individual shares – an unprecedented occurrence for a president – is revealed by the financial disclosure and transparency documents required by law. Trump is the only president in recent times to have disclosed trades in specific securities, at an average rate of around 80 per day.
In the case of MPs, in the Chamber of Deputies the majority of property transactions were disclosed by Democratic MPs – 65.4 per cent compared with 35.6 per cent by Republicans. In the Senate, the proportions are reversed: in 68.5 per cent of cases, the disclosures involved members of the President’s party, and in 32.8 per cent, opposition leaders. Among the most active members were the Californian Democrat Ro Khanna and the Texan Republican Michael McCaul.
Parliament is currently debating a ban on the buying and selling of shares, backed by a number of Republican MPs and passed by the House of Commons, but which exempts the new ‘king of trading’ – the President – from any restrictions. Trump supports the measure as a gesture to combat corruption, but has made no secret of his intention to continue his business activities and to be entirely opposed to bans extending to the White House. This is despite mounting controversy over conflicts of interest, given his access to privileged and classified information and his ability to influence markets, companies and entire industrial sectors through his decisions.
It must be said that White House spokespeople maintain that Trump’s portfolio is managed by independent third parties, without the involvement of the President or members of his family. But this does nothing to alleviate the shock at the way Trump (and his family, friends and allies) have enriched themselves by exploiting his position of power in government.
