Reliance invested over $100 million in a Texas refinery secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr.

ProPublica reported that Reliance Industries, the energy conglomerate of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, invested at least $100 million in America First Refining, an obscure Texas startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr. The investment followed months of Trump-administration tariff pressure on the Ambani empire and coincided with major U.S. policy wins for Reliance — including a February trade deal that lowered tariffs and a license to buy Venezuelan oil.

The startup's representatives reportedly told foreign officials that investing would open doors at the White House.

Public office is held in trust for the public, not as a vehicle for private enrichment. When a company with major business pending before the federal government channels a nine-figure investment into a venture secretly owned by the president's son, and favorable U.S. policy follows, the line between official decision-making and a first family's financial gain dissolves. That convergence of state power with personal profit — and the prospect that a foreign company's money can buy access to or sway over American policy — erodes the expectation that government acts on behalf of citizens rather than for those who pay its leaders' relatives.