Mr. Trump bought Apple and Nvidia shares before delaying the imposition of reciprocal taxes

July 2, CNBC said that according to analysis of US President Donald Trump’s annual financial declaration, he made 327 stock purchase orders during the April 8, 2025 session. This was his 11th biggest buying day last year, more than 5 times higher than the yearly average.

This is the last day in a series of four sharp declines for the US stock market, after Mr. Trump announced plans to impose import tariffs on most trading partners on April 2. According to the declaration, Mr. Trump bought shares of technology giants – a group that was sold off sharply because of this tax policy.

Mr. Trump bought Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia shares, worth between $100,001-250,000. All five of these codes belong to the Magnificent Seven – a group of large-cap technology stocks considered the driving force that helped the US stock market continuously set records over the past few years. These codes then increased sharply when Mr. Trump postponed the imposition of tariffs on April 9.

For example, on April 8, Apple shares fell 5%, Nvidia lost more than 1%. The next session, these two codes turned around and increased by over 15% and nearly 19%, respectively. This is the strongest increase for Apple shares since 1998, while Nvidia regained nearly one-fifth of its capitalization in just one session.

This reflects a controversial topic throughout Mr. Trump’s second term. He has the ability to greatly impact the market, but is also the person with the most personal assets related to the market among American presidents.

During the April 8 session, the S&P 500 index fell below the 5,000 point mark, approaching a bear market. In just 4 sessions, this index has lost more than 12%. Right after the opening session on April 9, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social: “This is a great time to buy.” A few hours later, he announced a 90-day delay in imposing tariffs on trading partners, except China.

The S&P 500 index increased 9.5% that session, the strongest in history. Since then, the index has increased 50%.

Many individual investors noticed these developments even before President Trump’s declaration was released. On forums like Reddit, some users boasted of buying before Mr. Trump encouraged investors to buy stocks. Meanwhile, many others harshly criticized the fact that he had investment assets, but had an impact on the stock market.

When asked about the President’s transactions on April 8, 2025, the White House only commented generally on his assets. “As President Trump said, he has a lot of assets because he was an extremely successful businessman before becoming President. That is also the reason he was elected,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said on CNBC.

Kelly affirmed that there is “no conflict of interest”, because all of the President’s assets are held in authorized accounts, managed by independent third-party financial institutions.

On July 1, Mr. Trump also confirmed to the press that his transactions were managed by an outside organization. “I don’t participate in this, because there are funds that manage money for me,” he said.

The stock trading is just one part of the 927-page declaration, which shows that Mr. Trump’s earnings increased by $2.24 billion last year. This includes hundreds of millions of dollars from cryptocurrency, over 290 million dollars from golf courses and large real estate, and more than 86 million dollars from legal settlements. Mr. Trump also earns additional income from his branded products, such as watches, sports shoes, and perfume.