Policy for sale

Nvidia and AMD get China export licences in exchange for giving the government 15% of the revenue

15% to 25% of China chip revenue, to the Treasury

In August 2025 Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the U.S. government 15% of their revenue from certain AI chip sales to China as part of a deal to obtain export licences that had been halted in April on national security grounds. Trump confirmed the terms and said he had first asked for 20%. In December 2025 he announced a similar arrangement for Nvidia’s more advanced H200 chip with a 25% share; the money goes to the government, not to Trump personally, and critics including a conservative think-tank expert say such an export charge may be unconstitutional.

Their response: Trump said: “I said, ‘If I’m going to do that, I want you to pay us as a country something, because I’m giving you a release.’” Nvidia said: “We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets.”

Sources: PBS / AP (Aug. 11, 2025) · ABC News (Trump’s account of the deal) · CNBC (H200 chips, 25%, Dec. 8, 2025)

Government takes a 10% stake in Intel two weeks after Trump demanded its chief executive resign

10% of Intel for $8.9B in federal funds

On Aug. 7, 2025 Trump said Intel’s chief executive Lip-Bu Tan must resign; on Aug. 22, after White House meetings, the government took a 10% stake in the company. It paid $8.9 billion for 433.3 million shares at $20.47, a discount to the market price, using $5.7 billion of already-awarded but unpaid CHIPS Act grants and $3.2 billion from another program. The stake belongs to the government, with no board seat; by April 2026 it was reported to be worth about $36 billion.

Their response: Trump said: “They’ve agreed to do it and I think it’s a great deal for them.” Intel said the government would have no board seat or other governance rights.

Sources: CNBC (Aug. 22, 2025) · PBS / AP (Trump says CEO must resign, Aug. 7, 2025) · Business Insider (stake value, Apr. 2026)

TikTok’s U.S. business goes to a group led by Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX, with a reported $10 billion fee to the Treasury

~$10B fee to the Treasury (reported, unconfirmed)

The deal brokered by the administration closed in January 2026: Oracle (co-founded by Larry Ellison), Silver Lake and MGX each hold 15%, ByteDance keeps 19.9%, and other investors including Michael Dell’s family office hold the rest. In March 2026 the Wall Street Journal reported that the investors are paying the government a fee of roughly $10 billion, with $2.5 billion already paid to the Treasury; a senior Democratic senator asked for answers, including whether the president sought anything for himself. The fee has not been officially confirmed.

Their response: Per Variety, the White House, the Treasury Department and the companies had not confirmed the payment. Trump had earlier named Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Lachlan Murdoch as people involved in the deal; Murdoch is not among the investors named in the final deal reports cited here.

Sources: Business Insider (final ownership, Jan. 23, 2026) · TechCrunch (deal terms) · Variety (reported $10 billion fee, Mar. 18, 2026) · NPR (Trump names Ellison, Dell, Murdoch, Sept. 22, 2025)

Apple’s chief gives Trump a gold-based plaque and a $100 billion pledge; Trump says Apple will be spared the chip tariff

$100B investment pledge (not a payment)

On Aug. 6, 2025 Tim Cook presented Trump in the Oval Office with a custom glass plaque on a 24-karat gold base and announced another $100 billion of U.S. investment, taking Apple’s pledge to $600 billion over four years. At the same event Trump said a tariff of about 100% on imported chips would not apply to companies “building in the United States”. The tie between the investment pledge and the exemption was stated openly; any role of the gift itself is inference.

Their response: Trump said that for any company “building in the United States of America, there’s no charge.” Cook called the plaque “a unique unit of one”.

Sources: NBC News (pledge and tariff remarks, Aug. 6, 2025) · Fortune (plaque on 24-karat gold) · CNBC (Apple exempt from chip tariff) · PBS / AP (tech chiefs’ White House dinner, Sept. 4, 2025)

The “Trump Gold Card”: U.S. residency route for a $1 million gift to the government

$1M gift to the government per applicant

A Sept. 19, 2025 executive order created the Gold Card, a visa path for foreigners who make an “unrestricted gift” to the Commerce Department: $1 million for an individual, $2 million when a company pays for someone. The program opened in December 2025; by May 2026 only 338 people had submitted requests and 165 had paid the $15,000 processing fee, according to a Homeland Security court filing reported by CNBC, which also said applicants get no priority over other visa seekers. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had predicted 80,000 cards and more than $100 billion in revenue.

Their response: The order describes the program as admitting people “who have demonstrated their ability and desire to advance the interests of the United States by voluntarily providing a significant financial gift to the Nation.” The Commerce Department and Homeland Security declined to comment to CNBC.

Sources: White House (executive order, The Gold Card) · CNBC (uptake, May 8, 2026)

Most early ambassador picks were Trump donors or fundraisers

$46M given or raised by 38 of his first 50 picks

An ABC News review in May 2025 found that at least 38 of the first 50 people announced or confirmed for diplomatic posts had donated to or raised money for Trump-connected political groups, directing at least $46 million to his campaigns, allied super PACs or his inaugural committee. Rewarding donors with embassies is a long-standing practice of both parties; ABC cited a Campaign Legal Center figure of $22 million given by Biden’s ambassador appointees over the prior ten years. No law is alleged to have been broken.

Their response: ABC said it sought White House comment. Former Trump ambassador and fundraiser Ed McMullen said: “There are supporters, they’re donors, they’re hard-working advocates, they’re friends. This is the case with every ambassador.”

Sources: ABC News (May 13, 2025)

Top inaugural donor, a JBS unit, saw its parent win a U.S. listing; its owner later lobbied Trump on beef

$5M to the inaugural committee (FEC filing)

Pilgrim’s Pride, controlled by Brazilian meatpacker JBS, gave $5 million to Trump’s inaugural committee on Jan. 2, 2025, the largest single gift. In late April 2025 the SEC cleared JBS to list its shares in New York, which 15 senators of both parties had opposed in 2024, citing the 2020 guilty plea to bribery charges by the owners’ holding company, which agreed to pay $256 million. On Aug. 20, 2026, Joesley Batista, who shares control of JBS, met Trump in the Oval Office and urged lower beef import tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported; within days Trump announced that up to 300,000 metric tons of beef could enter without the higher tariff, and he signed the proclamation on Aug. 26. The stated reason was high beef prices and the measure is open to any eligible exporter, so a favor for the gift is alleged, not shown.

Their response: JBS said it has a “long bipartisan history of participating in the civic process.” Trump, on Aug. 28, 2026: “For years I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors, who many say are a nasty Monopoly.”

Sources: FEC Form 13, Trump Vance Inaugural Committee (April 20, 2025) · Associated Press (May 23, 2025) · Wall Street Journal (Aug. 31, 2026) · White House fact sheet on beef imports (Aug. 26, 2026) · The Guardian (Aug. 28, 2026)

Japan’s $550 billion fund, pledged for a lower tariff, is invested “at President Trump’s direction”

$550B pledged by Japan; U.S. keeps 90% of profits (White House)

To get its planned tariff rate cut from 25% to 15%, Japan agreed in summer 2025 to put $550 billion into U.S. projects; South Korea offered $350 billion. The White House fact sheet says the Japanese money is “directed by the United States” and targeted “at President Trump’s direction,” with the U.S. keeping 90% of the profits, and the Sept. 4, 2025 executive order says the investments “will be selected by the United States Government.” AP reported that Trump “maintains that he will personally direct how the money is spent, enabling him to pick winners and losers.” By March 2026 the White House listed a first tranche of $36 billion and a second that includes up to $40 billion for GE Vernova Hitachi reactors (GE Vernova gave $500,000 to Trump’s inaugural); no personal benefit to Trump has been shown.

Their response: The White House calls it “the single largest foreign investment commitment ever secured by any country.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer described the strategy as “encouraging allied investment in America’s industrial future.” A Brookings scholar, Andrew Yeo, told AP: “It is really about lowering tariffs and avoiding Trump’s wrath.”

Sources: White House fact sheet, U.S.-Japan agreement (July 23, 2025) · Executive order implementing the U.S.-Japan agreement (Sept. 4, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Oct. 24, 2025) · White House fact sheet, U.S.-Japan alliance (March 2026) · FEC Form 13, Trump Vance Inaugural Committee (April 20, 2025)

A plastic-bottle resin was spared from tariffs after a Coke bottler hired Trump’s best-connected lobbyist

$760,000 in fees to Ballard (lobbying filings)

When the White House published more than 1,000 products exempt from the April 2025 tariffs, the list included PET resin, used for plastic bottles, which does not fit neatly into any of the stated exempt categories; the industry’s own trade group said it was surprised. ProPublica reported that Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler owned by brothers who have given millions to Republican causes, had hired Ballard Partners to lobby on tariffs, and filings show it paid the firm $40,000 in late 2024 and $120,000 a quarter from early 2025, with Brian Ballard himself listed and the Commerce Department, then the White House, as targets. The exemption covers every importer of the resin, no official reason was given, and unlike in Trump’s first term there was no public application process. ProPublica wrote that “whether the company’s lobbying played any role in the exemption is unclear.”

Their response: Reyes Holdings and its lobbyists did not respond to ProPublica, and the White House did not comment. A tariff lobbyist told ProPublica: “It could be corruption, but it could just as easily be incompetence.”

Sources: ProPublica (April 22, 2025) · Senate lobbying disclosure, Ballard Partners for Reyes Holdings, Q1 2025 · Senate lobbying disclosure, Ballard Partners for Reyes Holdings, Q4 2024

Trump-connected lobbying firm’s income rose from $19 million to $88 million; tariff clients from 7 to 31

$88.1M in 2025 lobbying income (tally of Senate filings)

Ballard Partners, whose founder Brian Ballard is a Trump fundraiser and whose former staff include chief of staff Susie Wiles and former attorney general Pam Bondi, reported about $88.1 million in federal lobbying income for 2025 from 352 clients, against about $19.3 million from 174 clients in 2024, by this site’s tally of its Senate disclosure filings. Thirty-one clients’ 2025 filings name tariffs as an issue, up from seven, among them Daimler Truck, BMW, Lego, Pirelli Tire, the Toy Association, Apotex, Brazil’s national industry confederation and Swiss watchmaker Breitling, which signed on in September 2025, two months before the U.S. cut its tariff on Swiss goods. The filings show who paid and which agencies were lobbied, not what was asked or won.

Their response: We did not ask Ballard Partners about this tally. ProPublica reported in April 2025 that the firm did not respond to questions about its tariff work, and quoted the Wall Street Journal editorial board calling “the opacity of the process” for exemptions “the Beltway Swamp’s dream.”

Sources: Senate lobbying disclosure database, Ballard Partners filings for 2025 · Senate lobbying disclosure, Ballard Partners for Breitling SA, Q4 2025 · ProPublica (April 22, 2025)

Trump paused auto tariffs after calls from Detroit’s chief executives, then added a two-year offset

$2.2M in inaugural gifts from three automakers (FEC)

On March 5, 2025 the White House said Trump had spoken with the heads of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis before granting a one-month tariff exemption for cars from Canada and Mexico. On April 14 he said he was looking at “something to help some of the car companies,” adding “I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible,” and on April 29 he signed a proclamation offsetting part of the parts tariff for cars assembled in the U.S., worth 3.75% of a vehicle’s sticker price in the first year and 2.5% in the second. Stellantis’s U.S. arm and General Motors each gave $1 million to the inaugural committee and Ford gave $199,000, FEC records show; GM’s gift is dated March 17, 2025. The relief applied to all automakers that assemble in the U.S., and no evidence shows the gifts caused it.

Their response: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on the call with the chief executives: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America, where they will pay no tariff. That’s the ultimate goal.” No company comment on the donations was found.

Sources: PBS News Hour transcript (March 5, 2025) · AP via PBS News (April 14, 2025) · White House fact sheet (April 29, 2025) · FEC Form 13, Trump Vance Inaugural Committee (April 20, 2025)

Trump dropped whiskey tariffs after a royal visit, then at his own Irish golf course: “been bugging me”

On Sept. 13, 2026, at the trophy ceremony of the Irish Open, played at his own Doonbeg golf course, Trump announced he would remove the 10% tariff on Irish whiskey, saying the Irish prime minister and even golfers had asked: “Everybody’s been bugging me.” On April 30, 2026, after King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited the White House, he lifted tariffs on Scotch, posting: “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Both moves benefit a whole industry rather than one firm, and the reason he gave for Scotch was to restore barrel trade between Scotland and Kentucky. In both cases he described the relief as a response to personal requests.

Their response: The White House did not respond to AP’s request to clarify the Scotch announcement. The Distilled Spirits Council’s chief, Chris Swonger, called the Irish move “another positive step toward reducing barriers to spirits trade.”

Sources: AP via PBS News (Sept. 14, 2026) · AP via PBS News (April 30, 2026) · AP via PBS News (Sept. 12, 2026)

Trump promised every adult a $5,000 “Trump dividend” from tariff money if Republicans win the midterms

$1.2T estimated cost (PBS News)

At a Republican convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, 2026, Trump said: “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend.” Vice President JD Vance said part of the money would come from tariff revenue. PBS News put the cost at about $1.2 trillion for 245 million adult citizens, and a Tax Foundation economist said that would consume nearly all the revenue the current tariffs are projected to raise over a decade. Only Congress can authorize such payments, and a $2,000 tariff “dividend” Trump promised in November 2025 was never sent.

Their response: White House spokesperson Davis Ingle did not address how tariffs would cover the cost, saying: “President Trump has consistently proven his doubters wrong, drawing a clear contrast with the Democrats’ record of historic inflation, unfettered illegal immigration, skyrocketing crime, and weakness on the world stage.”

Sources: PBS News (Sept. 10, 2026) · The Guardian (July 14, 2026)