Investment accounts owned by President Donald Trump engaged in more than 300 previously undisclosed stock purchases on April 8, 2025, one day ahead of his surprise announcement that he would pause a number of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, according to Trump’s annual financial disclosure report.
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Despite a 45-day deadline to report financial transactions, none of the 327 stock purchases on April 8 had been disclosed before Tuesday. Instead, the trades are scattered throughout a spreadsheet-style document that runs more than 900 pages, dwarfing the disclosure reports of Trump’s predecessors.
Those purchases represented just a fraction of the stock trading that the president’s accounts have engaged in since he returned to office.
But their disclosure — more than 14 months after they occurred — is the latest in a cascade of revelations about the president’s personal assets that, taken together, are fueling calls from both Republicans and Democrats for greater scrutiny of his financial interests.
Asked by NBC News about these filings and who exactly was handling Trump’s investments, the White House referred to a post on social media site X from Eric Trump, which says in part: “Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization has any role in selecting, directing, approving, influencing or soliciting specific investments. They receive no advance notice of trades, cannot alter or override the managers’ strategies or models, and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio operations.”
“This structure was intentionally designed to maintain a clear separation between President Trump and the independent third-party investment managers overseeing the accounts and avoid even the appearance of any conflict of interest,” he said.
The president has consistently denied that his private sector ventures pose a conflict of interest with his role as president, even as he and his family have plunged into a wide variety of businesses that have reaped billions of dollars in returns for them.
Stock trading by politicians has become a particular focus of concerns about corruption in recent years, with some on both sides of the aisle offering support for laws banning or limiting trading by elected officials. And while the topic has been percolating now for years, Trump’s trades — and their circumstances — have brought fresh focus to the issue.
Don Fox, the former acting director and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, said the stock trades are “completely unprecedented.”
Tuesday’s disclosure contained a number of stock trades that were not previously reported in prior disclosures and a small footnote, which read: “The filer paid late filing fees related to transactions not previously reported on 278-Ts.”
That form, according to the Office of Government Ethics website, “is used by employees within the executive branch who must file public periodic transaction reports.”
Among those trades were the more than 300 purchases on April 8, 2025, just a day ahead of Trump suddenly reversing course on his aggressive tariff regime, moving to pause them for 90 days. Trump’s initial tariff plan announcement had sent U.S. stocks reeling as investors worried that the president had embarked on a wide-ranging trade war that could dent economic growth.
After the reversal, major U.S. stock indexes shot up. April 9, 2025, was the S&P 500’s eighth-best day in history, closing 9.5% higher.
On Tuesday, the White House told NBC News, “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”
“All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people — and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, added.
The stocks purchased included shares of Chili’s restaurant owner Brinker International, military electronics manufacturer Kratos Defense, consulting firm Korn Ferry, financial firm Axos, New York Knicks and Rangers owner Madison Square Garden Sports and The Cheesecake Factory’s parent company, according to the filing.
The April 8 trades also include a purchase of $100,001 — $250,000 of Apple shares. There were few tech companies impacted by Trump’s tariffs more than Apple. In 2025, manufacturing of the company’s most critical products were done primarily in China, Vietnam, Thailand and India and the company’s trillion-dollar valuation rested on being able to make and sell its products as efficiently as possible
Apple shares rallied the next day by more than 15% — its best single day performance since 1998 — in reaction to Trump’s tariff pause.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization, Trump’s private business, added that “the breadth and depth of this filing further underscores our commitment to transparency. At nearly 1,000 pages, it represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.”
The president, vice president and Cabinet members are some of the many senior Executive Branch officials required to file annual financial disclosure reports. These filings detail their income, assets, liabilities, outside positions they hold and their spouses income. They are also required to disclose reimbursements for travel or other perks, such as sports tickets.
These trades were not disclosed on any of Trump’s subsequent transaction reports throughout 2025.
However, there were previously eight small bond purchases disclosed from April 8, 2025, in a filing that was released by OGE on Aug. 19, 2025. But that filing showed no stock trades.
It’s not clear why the trades were not disclosed sooner and the filing from Tuesday does not include any other details about the previously-undisclosed purchases.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Federal employees who are required to file these types of transaction reports for trades have a maximum of 45 days from the date of the trade to disclose it. But the penalty for not reporting is relatively minor, and includes a $200 late filing fee that can be waived in certain cases.
The first page of the disclosure contains a small footnote, which reads: “The filer paid late filing fees related to transactions not previously reported on 278-Ts,” a reference to the transaction disclosure form
That form, according to the Office of Government Ethics website, “is used by employees within the executive branch who must file public periodic transaction reports.”
