Washington — President Trump's investment accounts have continued to buy and sell shares in oil and natural gas companies while he oversees the U.S. war with Iran, according to his financial disclosure filings through the second quarter of 2026.

Throughout the conflict, including a pause for a ceasefire and its subsequent resumption, Trump executed oil and gas stock trades worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. A CBS News investigation found that in the first three months of 2026, his accounts conducted approximately 3,600 stock or securities trades valued between $212 million and $695 million.

Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimated that the value of Trump's holdings in oil and gas companies increased from a range of $13 million to $46 million at the start of the year to $17 million to $61 million by mid-August. His investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million of ExxonMobil stock, with the company's share price closing at $163.91 on April 7, before Trump announced a ceasefire that evening. The stock opened down 6.5% at $153.52 on April 8.

Despite these trades, Trump has publicly accused oil companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil of "making too much money," while owning shares in both.

According to Ingle, all of the president's holdings "are maintained in discretionary accounts and invested through computer-based model portfolios that automatically replicate recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000." Ingle added that no one in Trump's circle "has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold."

David Salem, a portfolio manager at Hedgeye Asset Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, characterized the trades as "classic tax-loss harvesting activity," where investment managers sell securities at a loss to offset gains elsewhere. Salem noted that such activity can be automated.

An expert also commented, "You can't do this kind of direct indexing you see in the filing unless you have pretty sophisticated computers, and legal and tax gurus to figure all this out."

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