Trump sold up to $1 million in ExxonMobil stock the same day he announced the Iran ceasefire, hours before shares fell 6.5%

On April 7, 2026, President Trump's investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million in ExxonMobil stock, the same day Trump declared a ceasefire in the U.S. war with Iran. Exxon shares closed at $163.91 that day, before the evening ceasefire announcement, and opened 6.5% lower the next morning at $153.52. The sale was disclosed in a periodic transaction report Trump filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in late June 2026 and surfaced in CBS News' review of his mid-2026 disclosures, published August 27, 2026.

The Exxon sale was one of hundreds of thousands of dollars in trades Trump's accounts executed across Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies through the first half of 2026, as the Iran war drove global oil prices — and the value of his energy holdings — sharply higher. Congressional Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimated the disclosed value of Trump's oil-and- gas stock holdings rose from a range of $13 million to $46 million at the start of 2026 to $17 million to $61 million by mid-August. Even as his own holdings benefited, Trump publicly criticized ExxonMobil and Chevron — which reported a combined $26.5 billion in second-quarter 2026 profit — for "making too much money."

The White House said Trump's stock and bond portfolio "is independently managed by third-party financial institutions" through "computer-based model portfolios that automatically replicate recognized indexes," and that neither Trump nor his family "has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold." Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington president Donald Sherman said the president "has a duty to avoid conflicts of interest between his finances and what's best for the American people" regardless of who executes the trades.

This entry records the Exxon sale as a discrete transaction, distinct from the archive's existing record of the aggregate OGE Q1 2026 disclosure (federal-monetizing-office-a906adb1), which cataloged thousands of transactions across many companies in the first quarter but did not include this trade — made in the second quarter and disclosed in a later filing. It is also part of a broader documented pattern of Trump holding personal financial positions in sectors his own decisions as president affect.