A new Cato Institute analysis by Tad DeHaven and Clark Packard traces a pattern in Trump administration trade policy: officials and family members profiting from deals tied to their own decisions.

Highlights:

  • Federal agencies offered up to $1.6 billion for a Kazakh tungsten venture Trump personally negotiated. Trump Jr. and Eric Trump built stakes in the deal’s public vehicle beforehand, and a firm they partly own financed another investor’s 20 percent stake.
  • Trump’s 2025 disclosure shows major capital gains on MP Materials stock after a Pentagon equity-stake announcement. Separately, Trump Jr.‘s venture fund invested in Vulcan Elements before it received a $620 million Pentagon loan.
  • A $500 million stake in World Liberty Financial by an Abu Dhabi vehicle tied to a senior UAE official preceded a chip-export policy reversal benefiting that official’s own AI company.

DeHaven and Packard note the underlying goals aren’t illegitimate. The concern is that the methods are blurring the line between policy and family enrichment.

If you’d like to speak with either of the authors, please contact Madison: mmiller@​cato.​org.