As the U.S. White House launches an offensive claiming that the Korean government discriminates against Coupang, it has emerged that President Donald Trump repeatedly bought and sold Coupang shares beginning last year. It was also revealed that Trump's foreign, security, and trade advisers were, until recently, lobbyists hired by Coupang. Critics point out that behind Coupang becoming a spark for diplomatic conflict between the two countries lie such conflicts of interest and gaps in the U.S. system that failed to prevent them.
According to Trump's financial disclosure documents recently released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), he traded Coupang shares 18 times through asset managers from October last year to May this year.
In detail, Trump's Coupang trades can be divided into three phases. There were 10 trades from October to the end of last year, executed in relatively small amounts of between $1,001 and $100,000 (about 1.5 million to 153 million won). This is interpreted as "averaging down" (buying in installments) after Coupang's share price fell when its personal data breach was disclosed in November last year. During this period, Coupang's average share price was around $28.40.
On Feb. 12 this year, Trump made large purchases of Coupang shares in amounts of $100,001 to $250,000 (about 153 million to 382 million won) and $1,001 to $15,000 (about 1.5 million to 22 million won). These were the largest amounts among his Coupang trades. Coupang shares closed at $17.13 that day. Subsequently, when Coupang's share price fell to around $15 in May, Trump sold Coupang shares twice, on the 18th and 22nd. As this was a period of declining share prices, it is raised that he may have recorded a negative return.
Compared with the $2.2 billion (about 3.3 trillion won) in income Trump earned from his total asset portfolio last year, the share of Coupang stock trades is not large. However, at a time when U.S. political circles are launching daily fierce attacks claiming that the Korean government's treatment of Coupang is discriminatory, the fact that the head of the administration engaged in private trading involving the company raises conflict-of-interest controversy.
Trump's stock investment is unusual even compared with former presidents. This is because a blind spot exists in current law regarding presidential stock trading. The U.S. conflict-of-interest law makes an exception for the president and vice president on the grounds that it could infringe on the president's governing authority. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, enacted in 2012, imposes regular disclosure obligations on the president but does not prohibit stock ownership or trading itself. Accordingly, all presidents since the 1970s voluntarily placed their assets in blind trusts (trusts that entrust asset management authority to a representative and bar interference), but Trump did not follow the practice.
The White House's position is that Trump's investments do not constitute a conflict of interest. Currently, a significant portion of Trump's assets is incorporated into a trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said, "The President and his family have never engaged in conflicts of interest and never will."
Senior figures in the Trump administration also had interests, such as receiving consulting fees from Coupang.
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) who serves as chief negotiator in trade talks, reported receiving a $10,000 honorarium for a lecture and advisory work from Coupang on May 17, 2024, while serving as a partner at law firm King & Spalding.
Greer has pressured Korea to correct what he defines as tangible and intangible disadvantages that American companies face in Korea, characterizing them as non-tariff barriers and the like.
In addition, Allison Hooker, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, who is leading working-level consultations on implementing the security portion of the joint fact sheet agreed between the Korean and U.S. leaders, reported that she provided consulting services to Coupang and received compensation before taking office.
Hooker served as senior vice president of American Global Strategies (AGS), whose chairman is Robert O'Brien (a former national security adviser during Trump's first term) who publicly criticized the Korean National Assembly's moves to pressure Coupang.
Such past ties in which senior U.S. government figures were linked to Coupang through interests are interpreted as one cause of the hardline stance shown by the U.S. administration and Congress.
On the 1st of this month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report titled "Blocking Competition: Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-Owned Companies" on its website, pointing out that the Korean government is discriminating against Coupang. The next day, a White House official also singled out that "the Korean government is targeting Coupang."
The controversy is expected to reach a conclusion after the November midterm elections. According to U.S. political outlet Axios, the Democratic Party is preparing a hostile investigation related to Trump's wealth growth and is also considering it as a key ground for impeachment. If the Democrats win big in the midterm elections, such moves are expected to gain momentum.
