U.S. media reported today: "President Trump disclosed over 1,000 stock transactions in June, including spending millions of dollars to increase his holdings in Berkshire Hathaway, Visa, and Mastercard, while selling shares in Meta (formerly Facebook) and Motorola. The White House stated that neither Trump nor his family directs these trades; instead, they are managed by independent custodians using automated, index-tracking strategies, such as direct index investing."
Comments: Completing over a thousand stock rebalancing moves within a single month involves substantial trading volume. The White House explanation—that trades are handled by independent managers using automated strategies and that the president does not issue direct trading instructions—seeks to avoid conflicts of interest. However, as the U.S. president holds significant policy-making authority, even without personally placing orders, the policies he enacts can still influence the stock prices of relevant public companies. It remains difficult to clearly separate political power from personal investment interests. This is precisely why there has been ongoing domestic calls in the U.S. for tighter regulation of stock trading by public officials.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874298031239178/
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