Trade Chaos May Be Part of an Illegal Game
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trade Chaos May Be Part of an Illegal Game
Froma Harrop on Mar 11, 2025
You can get rich when stocks go up. You can get rich when stocks go down. When stocks go up, people who knew to buy them in advance may win big. If they go down, investors who had the wisdom to "go short" on them -- that is, bet on their decline -- can make a bundle.
Clearly, anyone who can predict what stock prices would do can make magnificent profits. And who knew that Donald Trump was about to announce market-moving plans for bigger tariffs, then smaller tariffs, then sideways tariffs, then tariff delays?
Trump knew.
It happens that trading stocks or other investments based on insider information, whether by a corporate executive or government official, is highly illegal. Trump and any confidants who got wind of what he was about to say on tariffs could have made fortunes buying or selling on that information.
Were Trump and friends engaging in such fraud? So far no one has presented direct evidence that Trump's whiplash statements and contradictory actions on tariffs are part of a ploy to manipulate stock prices. But I did ask a conservative banker friend whether he thought insiders were trading on all this tariff chaos. His answer: "I have absolutely no doubt about it."
A number of factors strongly hint that this could be going on.
Hint number one is that if one believes Trump's vows to move forward on tariffs, none of this makes sense. Nearly every economist holds that reckless tariffs will crash the economy. As a negotiating tactic, what have these gyrations produced? Pathetically little.
Example: Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico at midnight, March 4. Stock prices tumbled. Hours later, his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Trump might reconsider. Trump then announces a one-month delay on some tariffs. Stocks jumped.
U.S. automakers rely on parts from Mexico and Canada to make their vehicles less expensive and easier to sell. Trump "explained" that the American companies could use the month to move that production back to the United States.
Let's cut to the chase: Vehicle makers couldn't build new parts factories in just a month even if they wanted to. But gosh, what a good time insiders could have trading on their pain.
Hint number two is that Trump is firing ethics watchdogs that would call attention to illegal stock manipulation. The Department of Justice, for one, is supposed to prosecute government officials for insider trading. Trump just gave the No. 2 position at DOJ to Todd Blanche, who was his personal criminal defense lawyer.
Trump did a mass firing of inspector generals, some of whom investigate insider trading by government officials. He didn't even give Congress the 30-days' notice required by law.
Hint number three is that Trump simply loves a good scam. It matters not whether the victims are students at his university, investors in his bankrupt casinos or his fans.
Some may recall how the Trump Rebate Banking System suckered sad members of his cult. TRB sold such items as "Trump Bucks," "Trump coins" and membership cards on the false claim they would become legal tender in a future monetary system.
As things now stand, a big chunk of North American trade remains exposed to tariffs. That means Trump has much opportunity to play more tariff games with friendly countries, U.S. workers, manufacturers and ordinary investors.
The time has long passed for Americans to dismiss the idea that Trump's yo-yo "trade policy" is a simple matter of indecision. They should ask whether it involves, or even revolves around, an insider trading scheme benefiting Trump and his consorts. Does anyone have a better explanation for it?
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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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These are the questions everyone should be asking.
Why has Trump yo-yoed on tariffs? Simple mental incapacity or criminality ?
I'll take Criminality for $2000 Alex
Just like his crypto rug pull. An honest buck is anathema to the Trump regime. Trump lackeys here on NT can’t get enough of his criminality.
That makes them criminals, doesn't it?
Insider trading is like conspiracy theory. Just because it sounds sensationalist and is hard to prove, does not mean that conspiracies don’t exist. And in this administration, leakers get concrete sneakers.
Wonder who’s planning for a windfall on this mindless escalation whip.
I saw Johnson today explaining how Trump’s actions are akin to breaking in a game of pool. He says you need to smash the organization of the balls so you can strategize how to put the balls in. Why would any sane person think this analogy is appropriate?!
I seem to remember a PotUS who thought it a good idea. You know, "fundamentally change America" type shit. Luckily, it was recognized and that moron couldn't accomplish it.
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I was wondering about this myself. I asked myself if this tariff on tariff off was a way for his rich cronies to buy up falling stock only to sell it later at inflated prices later on
Peter Doocy of Fox News , the erstwhile MAGA suck up, asked the White House press secretary during a briefing today if she is sure that no one at the White House shorted the Dow.
The longer Trump treats his tarrifs like a ping pong ball the more people are going to smell criming.
Anyone paying any attention knows this is what I have been saying...
Those with inside knowledge of Trump's tariffs on tariffs off tariffs on tariffs off tariffs on machinations could have easily made $$$ trading opinions on the margins in just the last few weeks, and probably did!
That's a joke compared to the Queen of insider trading,
Just part of the chaos while his billionaire appointees rob the electorate blind hiding behind Musk and DOGE.
A shell game while we watch them always come out the winners and the 99% of Americans lose big.
Dow closed down 478 pts today.
Trump Commands Americans Not to Check Their 401ks
WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report )—In an emergency address from the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, Donald J. Trump commanded the American people not to check their 401k accounts.
“Anyone caught checking their 409s (sic) can and will be deported,” he warned.
Asserting that he was issuing this order “for your own good,” Trump added, "Elon says there's a virus in the stock market and if you check your stocks it will spread to your body."
Though he claimed that “nothing bad is happening on Wall Street,” he promised the American people that, in the event of a stock market crash, “I will fix it with my Sharpie.”
"Elon says there's a virus in the stock market and if you check your stocks it will spread to your body."
"Don't Look!" - Donald Trump
As if young Donald Trump could even grow facial hair.
It’s nice to see that old Donald Trump hasn’t lost his sensibilities.