President Donald Trump's personal oil and gas holdings were worth between $22.5 million and $81.6 million as of the latest disclosure data, up from $12.6 million to $46 million at the end of 2025. The jump, outlined in a new Democratic congressional report, comes as Trump's administration has waged a war with Iran that sent gasoline and diesel prices soaring for everyday drivers across the country.
According to CBS News, the oil and gas stocks Trump held increased in value by an average of 43% since the end of 2025, a figure Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee attributed to the surge in energy prices tied to the war. The report found Trump purchased between $4.7 million and $17.5 million in oil and gas stocks between March, after the war began on February 28, and the end of August, while also selling between $2 million and $5.4 million in the same stocks during that window. The analysis was based on Trump's financial filings with the Office of Government Ethics, which only require filers to report transaction ranges rather than specific dollar amounts.
Trump currently owns up to $23.1 million in Chevron stock and up to $18.4 million in ExxonMobil, two of the companies whose shares grew nearly 25% and nearly 22%, respectively, since February 20. Those gains mirrored a broader rally: S&P 500-listed energy companies saw their share prices jump more than 50% since the start of 2026, compared with roughly an 11% rise for the broader S&P 500 index over the same stretch, per the same CBS News report.
A Pattern of Trading Through the War
The stock activity wasn't limited to the spring surge. A separate CBS News report found that Trump's accounts executed about 3,600 stock or securities trades during just the first three months of 2026, worth a total that ranged between $212 million and $695 million. On April 7, one of Trump's investment accounts reported selling between $500,001 and $1 million in Exxon shares, according to CNBC — the same day Trump declared a ceasefire in the war and Exxon shares closed at $163.91. The stock opened down more than 6% the next day at $153.52.
CNBC's earlier reporting, drawing on the same Democratic committee analysis, had estimated that Trump's broader oil and gas portfolio increased in value by as much as $15.5 million this year, a roughly 39% jump. The outlet noted his nine largest disclosed oil and gas holdings — Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Kinder Morgan, Marathon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Valero Energy and Williams Companies — gained an estimated $1.5 million to $4.4 million between late February and the end of August. Trump entered the war with between $3.2 million and $12.5 million invested in Exxon alone, and the stock's rise had added an estimated $176,000 to $690,000 to that stake by the end of August, the outlet reported. CBS News noted that Trump's total holdings and trading activity may be even higher, since he has not yet reported transactions for September or October.
Drivers Pay More at the Pump
While Trump's energy stock holdings climbed, so did the price Americans paid to fill up. The average nationwide price of regular gasoline rose from $2.87 per gallon in early February to $4.29 eight months later, CBS News reported, while diesel climbed from $3.68 to $6.28 per gallon over the same period. Shares of Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum more than doubled since the start of the year, CNBC reported, as major oil and gas producers recorded about $125.2 billion in profits during the first half of 2026 alone.
Trump has pointed to the war itself and said gas prices will drop through the floor once it ends, and that oil prices will fall dramatically afterward. He has also accused Iran of trying to drive up oil prices ahead of next week's U.S. elections. Trump's advisers reportedly advised him not to mention oil and gas industry profits tied to the Middle East conflict, though he has nonetheless told crowds in Georgia that U.S. oil and gas companies are making hundreds of billions of dollars, and in August he criticized ExxonMobil and Chevron for making too much money from fuel profits. He announced he would invoke the Defense Production Act to spend $150 million boosting gasoline and diesel production as prices climbed.
Democrats Raise Conflict-of-Interest Questions
Senator Maggie Hassan said the Iran war has made Americans pay more at the pump while oil companies profit and Trump's own oil and gas stock wealth grows, adding that his stock ownership and trading raise major concerns about conflicts of interest, according to CBS News. Presidents, vice presidents and members of Congress are permitted to own, buy and sell stocks while in office, subject to insider trading laws.
The White House, through spokesperson Davis Ingle, said independent managers make all investment decisions for Trump's portfolio, and that Trump does not personally direct any trades. Ingle told CBS News that Trump's holdings are maintained in discretionary accounts invested through computer-based model portfolios that replicate recognized indexes, and that Trump and his family cannot direct, influence or provide input on portfolio investments. Ingle said there are no conflicts of interest, noting the money managers try to replicate major stock indices and that Trump's portfolio spans holdings across all sectors of the economy. Trump told CNBC in July that his son Eric Trump also handles his finances. The president's oil and gas stock purchases and sales represent a small portion of his overall net worth, which was estimated at roughly $7 billion as of September.
Families spent an average of $856 more on gas over that stretch, per CNBC's reporting. Brent crude traded below $75 per barrel the day before the war began and later traded above $115 per barrel, as the conflict stymied oil exports in the region, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, before Middle Eastern oil shipments climbed again once exporters sought alternate routes and some traffic through the strait resumed.
