Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Sold Stocks Two Days Before Trump Announced a Plan for Reciprocal Tariffs

ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power, offers its biggest stories once they are published. Prior to President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on foreign imports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sold stock in nearly three dozen companies. Records reviewed by ProPublica showed that Duffy made these sales on Feb. 11, just before the stock market began to decline due to concerns about Trump’s tariff plans. Duffy, who introduced a bill similar to Trump’s trade agenda in 2019, sold between $75,000 and $600,000 of stock two days before Trump’s tariff announcement and an additional $50,000 worth on the same day.

While Duffy’s involvement in tariff policy is unusual for a transportation secretary, he has aligned himself with Trump’s trade agenda. His stock sales, managed by an outside party, were made in accordance with an ethics agreement to avoid conflicts of interest. Duffy’s spokesperson emphasized that he supports Trump’s tariff policy but is not involved in setting tariff levels. Duffy’s stock transactions, totaling between $90,000 and $650,000, were part of a retirement account managed independently. The stocks sold included companies affected by tariffs, like Shopify and John Deere, as well as others indirectly impacted by economic conditions.

The sales raised questions about potential insider trading, but Duffy’s camp maintained that he had no nonpublic information regarding Trump’s tariff plans. The Justice Department has not commented on the trades, and no cases have been brought under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. Despite concerns about the legality of insider trading, Duffy’s sales were made in compliance with disclosure requirements.