The so-called Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort has broken his silence on Donald Trump’s tariffs, weighing in on questions of insider trading at the White House.
Opponents say the president has questions to answer after he said it was a “great time to buy” shares – four hours before the stock market surged on Wednesday when he paused tariffs.
But Belfort told Sky News’ Gillian Joseph the fact Trump made the statement on social media meant it was public, rather than him tipping off a few people.
Speaking on The World programme, Belfort said: “I personally don’t find it overly suspicious. Especially since he’s told it to everybody at once.
“If he hadn’t said anything and told five of his best friends ‘I’m gonna ease this tariff situation – you should be buying’, that would be illegal.”
Insider trading is when people take advantage of non-public information to buy or sell shares and make a gain.
‘Insane’ trade imbalance
Belfort added that while he was against tariffs generally, Trump’s dramatic intervention was necessary as the US has an “insane” trade imbalance and imports far more than it exports.
“The United States has been drained of its wealth, drained of its factories,” he said.
“It’s not gonna be pretty,” Belfort added. “There’s going to be pain – but the path we were on before is simply unsustainable. It had to change.”
