Trump, who advocated for 'interest rate cuts'... bought over $100 million in bonds after taking office

Bonds influenced by policies such as local governments and gas development projects

Corporate bonds purchased from companies like The Home Depot, UnitedHealth Group, and Meta Platforms

U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly purchased at least $100 million worth of bonds since taking office in January this year. The bonds Trump purchased were issued by local governments and major United States corporations.

This gives insight into why he is so eager for interest rate reductions—when interest rates fall, bond prices rise.

On the 20th (local time), CNBC summarized 690 transactions from documents President Trump submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on the 12th of this month. The documents were released one day earlier.

According to CNBC’s calculations, assuming the minimum amount listed for each disclosed transaction, the total value of bonds acquired amounted to at least $100 million (approximately ₩139.8 billion).

By law, the President, Vice President, and certain public officials in the United States must regularly report "reportable transactions" to the OGE.

According to a wide-ranging list submitted earlier this month, President Trump purchased bonds issued by various entities in the U.S. this year, including local governments, gas districts, water supply districts, hospital authorities, and school boards.

President Trump also purchased between $500,000 and $1 million worth of bonds issued by T-Mobile, along with bonds issued by UnitedHealth Group and The Home Depot. Additionally, he acquired bonds worth between $250,000 and $500,000 issued by Meta Platforms—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—which Trump once called an 'enemy of the United States.'

Investors who purchase bonds receive fixed or variable interest payments over the agreed period and are repaid the principal in full at maturity.

Some companies in which Trump currently holds bonds have been directly affected by his policies or business deals.

According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth stands at $5.5 billion. Forbes also reported that Trump had a net worth of $2.1 billion in 2020, his final year of his first term. Since then, Forbes evaluates that Trump has become "the most profitable former president in U.S. history," mainly thanks to his ventures in social media and meme coin businesses targeting his supporters.

The Democratic Party has criticized Trump for numerous conflicts of interest during his previous presidency.

Under U.S. federal law, the President and Vice President are exempt from certain financial conflict-of-interest regulations that generally apply to federal employees. Nevertheless, the nonprofit watchdog group CREW stated, “Every modern president before Trump relinquished their personal business interests prior to taking office.”

Kim Jung-ah, contributing reporter, kja@hankyung.com