The recent controversy over insider trading sparked by the abrupt changes in tariff policies under the Trump administration has once again brought the issue of stock trading regulation among U.S. Congress members into the public spotlight. In April 2025, Trump suddenly announced a suspension of the imposition of "reciprocal tariffs" on multiple countries, causing U.S. stocks to surge, while his ally, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, was revealed to have intensively purchased technology stocks like Apple and Nvidia two days before the policy announcement, involving an amount of $315,000. This incident exposed the systemic loopholes that allow Congress members to profit from insider information.

Although the U.S. passed the "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act" in 2012, requiring members to disclose large trades, its enforcement has been weak. In 2024, the average stock return for Democratic Congress members still reached 31%, far exceeding the S&P 500 index's 24.9%. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, made a profit of $1.25 million from accurately betting on the chip bill, which has continued to provoke public dissatisfaction with his "stock god" record.

Democrats are attempting to address the loopholes through legislation. The "Restoring Government Accountability Bipartisan Act" proposed by Congress members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocates for banning Congress members and their relatives from trading individual stocks, but faces opposition from Republicans. Although Trump did not directly push for the ban, his erratic policy style heightened suspicions of market manipulation—he posted "Now is a good time to buy" four hours before announcing the tariff suspension, along with the stock code of his personal media company, raising questions about his use of presidential power to influence stock prices.