Donald Trump has a new scheme for making money off of the sweeping tariffs he rapidly imposes, adjusts, and delays, first reported by independent journalist Judd Legum.
Trump Media and Technology Group unveiled a “suite” of thematic “Truth Social-branded Separately Managed Accounts” that it had crafted in collaboration with Yorkville America Equities and Index Technologies Group.
The investment portfolios were organized around the themes of “Faith & Values,” “Liberty & Security,” “Energy Independence,” and “Made in America.”
TMTG CEO Devin Nunes said that the SMAs were designed to meet investors’ demand “to support a wide range of outstanding, non-woke, and innovative companies across key sectors of the U.S. economy.”
It’s not clear what specific assets will be in each portfolio. “Made in America” is likely to contain stocks associated with American manufacturers, while “Liberty & Security” could contain assets for defense contractors and private prisons, which stand to make a killing off of Trump’s massive deportation scheme.
But Trump’s position as a shareholder of TMTG presents a clear conflict of interest, considering the amount of power he has to roil the stock market. Since entering office, Trump has demonstrated the power to manipulate the value of any particular stock by simply announcing a tariff or exemption, putting him in a particular position of power over his yields from TMTG.
Trump profits directly from TMTG in two key ways, Legum explained in his newsletter Public Notice. “First, TMTG will invest a portion of its cash reserves in accounts. Secondly, as the majority shareholder in TMTG, Trump will benefit from the fees generated by these accounts. The performance of the underlying assets held in these accounts will determine both TMTG’s return on its cash reserves and interest from outside investors,” he wrote.
Through TMTG’s actively managed investment accounts, Trump would be able to directly financially benefit simply by announcing or rescinding a policy. For example, Apple stock sank when Trump announced his sweeping “reciprocal tariff” policy on April 2 and continued to drop as he escalated tariffs on Chinese goods to the triple-digits. But when the administration announced that there would be an exemption applied to electronic devices on April 11, Apple stock began to improve.
Trump has been accused of obvious market manipulation after he instructed his followers that it was a “great time to buy,” just hours before announcing a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal tariff” policy. He even bragged about how much money he made his billionaire buddies who came to visit him in the White House.
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