When last Wednesday Trump announced his huge set of tariffs on every country, the stock markets tanked globally on Thursday and Friday. Then on Monday and Tuesday, Trump insisted that the tariffs were here to stay and that there would be no pause in them going into effect but the markets rallied somewhat because, as is often the case after a big sell off, some investors swoop in to buy stocks that they think are now available at bargain prices.

Then today, Trump abruptly announced what he had said he definitely would not do and that is issue a 90-day pause in the implementation of the tariffs, though it was not clear whether it meant all the tariffs or just some, since he also announced that tariffs on China would increase to 125% after they said that they would impose tariffs of 84% on US goods in retaliation to the earlier US tariffs. But despite that ambiguity in exactly what the pause meant, the stock market surged upwards today.

Which raises the obvious question: Who in addition to Trump would have known about these policy actions and reversals? Because whoever knew could make a killing on the stock market.

Rumors have long existed of insider trading by politicians who have access to knowledge that the rest of us do not have. Members of congress know about pending legislation that can affect stocks. Studies have shown that the stock portfolios of members of congress tend to do better than average which seems unlikely to happen just by chance. Nancy Pelosi is notorious for being an active trader of stocks who has seen her wealth soar. But she is by no means the only one.

Pelosi, formerly the Speaker of the House, has long come under fire for her trades (and her husband David’s). She receives a special call out in the report, with Unusual Whales dubbing her a “a skilled options trader” with “an almost cult-like following for her financial disclosures.” Indeed, articles and services abound to trade like Pelosi, who was up an estimated 70.9% last year.

Efforts to curb this practice by banning members of congress from trading in stocks have, unsurprisingly, failed.

Public polling shows that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of banning members of Congress, as well as members of the executive and judicial branches, from making trades while in office. This view stems from a perception that politicians and judges have an advantage in the market, given the non-public information they learn in their duties. The report details potential conflicts, such as Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene’s purchase of thousands of Tesla shares that ballooned in value as CEO Elon Musk became a key advisor to incoming President Donald Trump.

That Congress members disclose their trades at all is the result of the 2012 STOCK Act, which followed reports of lawmakers making out handsomely around the 2008 financial crisis. But given that the fine for failing to file is $200, critics say it’s not much of a deterrent. There have been several efforts over the past few years to ban the practice completely, but those have floundered in the House. Outgoing President Joe Biden recently came out in favor of the ban.

Given that Trump can move the markets by taking these kinds of actions, it would be interesting to know which people who have access to Trump might have benefitted from timing their stock purchases and sales at the most opportune moments to take advantage of his abrupt shifts in policy.