Published in The Globe and Mail on May 25, 2026

Here is an excerpt from the article.

His first year back in office was the most profitable of his life, bestowing US$3-billion in wealth on the family fortune, according to Forbes.

Mr. Trump’s self-enrichment campaign comes at a cost to us all. It rips off those on the other side of those trades. And it undermines the fairness of the public markets.

In March, more than US$800-million worth of oil futures changed hands just minutes before Mr. Trump announced on Truth Social that strikes on Iran’s infrastructure would be postponed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Same thing a couple weeks ago, as detailed by the influential market commentator The Kobeissi Letter. In the early hours of May 6, someone bet nearly US$1-billion on crude oil shorts, which pay off if the price of oil drops. About an hour later, Axios reported that a deal to end the war in Iran was in the works. Oil prices quickly dove by 12 per cent, and those shorts netted a cool US$125-million.

Donald Trump cashes in on power, and investors pay the price – The Globe and Mail