04/11/2025April 11, 2025
Did Trump’s manipulate the market with tariff announcement?
Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer, has told DW that an investigation should be opened to ascertain “who knew what the president’s plan was on and if anybody made trades based on that information.”
On Wednesday, he had just placed on dozens of countries. Stocks on Wall Street rose sharply following the announcement.
Earlier in the day, before the announcement, Trump had posted on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
“The president has just created an appearance of market manipulation and that there might be insider trading when he’s talking about buying and selling stocks at the same time as he’s talking about trade policy,” Painter said.
Asked whether it was wrong or maybe even illegal, Painter pointed out that it was unprecedented.
“We have never had a president before weigh in on where to buy or sell stocks in particular. We’ve never had this happen when the administration is about to announce such significant changes to economic policies,” Painter said.
He added, however, that there has been a problem of conflicts of interest in US politics for a long time, with elected officials thinking “they can trade on the stock market while making decisions that affect the stock market.”
“This is one of the reasons so many people distrust our government,” he added.
Painter also said should “avoid an economic crisis and an all-out trade war, which will result in an economic crisis.”
The post Trump tariffs: Asian markets slump amid US-China tension appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
