In April 2023, Texas Republican Representative Michael McCaul led an official visit by U.S. lawmakers to Taiwan, meeting with senior officials and business leaders to discuss ways to strengthen the “economic and defense relationship” between the two countries. The same year, McCaul’s wife purchased stock, valued at up to $250,000, in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, while he chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. His family continued trading in TSMC stock for the rest of his tenure as chair, even as he led a second official trip to Taiwan in May 2024 .
Stock trading by U.S. lawmakers, despite being legal, has been a controversial subject in American politics for years. Members of Congress serve on committees that grant them access to privileged information on matters of national security, technology, and foreign affairs, among other subjects. There have long been concerns about lawmakers using this nonpublic information to trade individual stocks or engage in insider trading, and several bills to ban the practice have bipartisan support. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is cited as one of the most prominent examples by critics, including President Donald Trump, especially since her husband’s portfolio generated cumulative returns of 838% over the past decade. Pelosi insists the claims are “ ridiculous ” and that she is not involved in her spouse’s trading activities.
A new Rest of World analysis of data from Capitol Trades , a website that tracks members of Congress’ stock trading activity, underscores that some U.S. politicians and their family members are dealing in large volumes of foreign companies’ stocks while simultaneously serving on committees with the power to oversee or influence policies affecting the same companies. In some cases, lawmakers who have taken a hard line in U.S.-China relations or aligned themselves with Trump’s “America First” agenda — including McCaul and Rep. Sheri Biggs — have disclosed that they or their family members traded in foreign stock, including those of companies impacted by relations between Beijing and Washington. Federal law requires lawmakers to disclose any investments in the stock market above $1,000 made by them, their spouse, or any dependent children.
Rep. Ro Khanna is a California Democrat whose district includes much of Silicon Valley, and whose family has been trading in TSMC stock since at least 2023. Khanna sits on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which oversees U.S.-China relations. One of the committee’s functions is to “strengthen ties to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry.”
In February 2023, Khanna led a coalition of lawmakers from both parties on an official visit to Taiwan and China to “rebalance the economic relationship” between the countries and the U.S. During this trip, he met with TSMC’s founder, Morris Chang, along with other state officials. The same month, his spouse bought TSMC stock worth $15,000–$50,000. Khanna’s family has continued to trade TSMC stock since then. In August 2025, his child bought $15,000–$50,000 worth of TSMC stock, and his spouse’s stock of the same value was sold in November. The family has made 12 other smaller trades in TSMC since 2023.
Khanna told CNBC in 2022 that his financial disclosures show his wife’s investments, to which he has no legal rights. “I don’t trade at all,” he said, while adding that he supports a ban on congressional stock trading. His office did not respond to Rest of World’s request for comment.
McCaul’s wife and child made multiple purchases of TSMC stock in quantities ranging from $50,000–$100,000 and $100,000–$250,000 until early 2024, after which they began selling their stakes. In November 2025, he expressed concerns about the U.S. exporting semiconductor chips to China during a subcommittee hearing . He also introduced the Chips for America Act during the first Trump administration to encourage chip manufacturing in the U.S.
“Congressman McCaul did not purchase these stocks and had no advanced knowledge of the purchase. Rather, his wife has assets she solely owns, and a third-party manager made the purchase without her direction,” an attorney for McCaul told Rest of World .
TSMC is not the only foreign company impacted by U.S.-China relations that lawmakers have invested in. Laurel Lee, a Republican from Florida, has held stock in the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba in the past.
During an October 2022 debate , Democrat Alan Cohn called out her family’s wealth and her husband’s investments in the Chinese-owned company. At the time, Lee accused her opponent of bringing “nonsense and false allegations,” despite several outlets reporting that Lee’s husband had, in fact, held significant stock in Alibaba. Capitol Trades data shows he owned Alibaba stock valued at up to $250,000 in December 2023, after which he sold it.
That sale came nine days after a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce — on which Lee serves — released a letter flagging data collection and privacy concerns related to Chinese e-commerce companies, including Alibaba. Lee reported the sale in August 2025, more than 19 months later. The deadline for representatives to declare their trades is within 45 days of the transaction.
Lee’s office did not respond to Rest of World’s request for comment.
Other members of Congress have also held smaller quantities of stock in foreign tech companies. Sherri Biggs, a Rep. from South Carolina, serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has dealt in small quantities of stock in TSMC, Alibaba, Tencent, and Indian software giant Infosys. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat Rep. from Florida is on the East Asia subcommittee under the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has bought small quantities of TSMC stock. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat Rep. from New Jersey, serves on the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence under the House Committee on Financial Services, and has bought small quantities of TSMC and Alibaba stock. None of the lawmakers’ offices responded to requests for comment.
