Trump Cuts Big Breaks for Businesses He Has Stakes In
New filings show the president owns $1 million-plus worth of stock in Apple and Nvidia, two companies he has given preferential trade treatment.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s latest investment filings reveal that he owns $1.2 million to $2.65 million worth of stock in Apple and Nvidia, two tech companies that he recently granted special concessions in his ongoing trade war.
Last week, the president announced Apple would be exempted from a 100 percent tariff on semiconductors, and this week, Trump agreed to let Nvidia sell artificial intelligence chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving a 15 percent cut of the revenue.
The deals had already come under fire, with critics blasting the Nvidia arrangement in particular as an illegal tax or a bribe.
Now, it turns out Trump has substantial holdings in both companies.
Apple CEO Tim Cook presented President Trump with a plaque that had a 24-karat gold base during a White House press conference dedicated to Apple's manufacturing investments in the U.S.
Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
The president’s latest investments filing reveals he held $615,000 to $1.3 million in Nvidia shares at the end of last year and $650,000 to $1.35 million in Apple stock, The Washington Post reported.
Trump has long refused to divest his stocks.
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Most presidents since the 1970s have put their assets in a blind trust—which prevents the benefactor from knowing how the investments are being managed—or in Treasury bonds, according to the Post.
Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children, which doesn’t carry the same protections against interference as a blind trust.
President Trump has called Nvidia's founder and CEO Jensen Huang a "friend." Huang personally lobbied President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (pictured here) to let Nvidia sell its H20 computer chips to China.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
A White House spokesperson nevertheless told the Post, “There are no conflicts of interest.” The Daily Beast has also reached out for comment.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement that Trump’s investment decisions were made “entirely by independent managers” and that neither Trump nor any of his family members “has the ability to direct, influence, or provide input” regarding the portfolio.
Because of delayed disclosure requirements, the investment filing only reflected Trump’s portfolio as of Dec. 31. The White House declined to say if Trump had sold the stocks, the Post reported.
The plaque that Apple CEO Tim Cook gifted President Donald Trump this month has a 24-karat gold base.
The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Im
The filing showed that Trump held stock in hundreds of companies across industries, including a handful of companies in which the holdings’ value exceeded $600,000—Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, the investment firm Blackstone, and Trump’s own companies, such as the Trump Media & Technology Group.
Nvidia and Apple’s stock both surged after Trump announced their special treatment, the Post reported.
Last month, Trump ripped into Sen. Josh Hawley after the Missouri senator backed a bill that would ban members of Congress from owning or trading stocks. Hawley called Trump to clarify that the restrictions wouldn’t extend to the president or vice president.
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