Donald Trump’s first presidency was marked by an open-door policy for billionaires seeking favourable policies. His second term promises a deeper entrenchment of oligarchic power.
A shocking share of Trump’s new cabinet is drawn from the top 0.0001 per cent—a small group of ultra-wealthy elites whose track records suggest a tendency to prioritize their business empires over democratic accountability. These billionaires are not just funding Trump—they make up a significant proportion of his administration and have a substantial impact on the direction and decision-making of the government.
This isn’t Canada’s first encounter with an oligarch-backed government. Though Trump’s billionaire cabinet lacks direct ties to a single sanctionable company, their influence spans critical sectors of the Canadian economy. By identifying where these key players have economic interests in Canada, we can target them directly with sanctions and other measures—a move that could make Trump’s inner circle think twice about his ill-advised trade war.
Who they are: Trump’s billionaire cabinet
Elon Musk is the co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new, para-governmental institution designed to take a wrecking ball to state capacity. He is not sworn in, not vetted by Congress, and is accountable to no one but Trump himself. Musk is the world’s richest man and several of his businesses, including Starlink, Tesla, and X, operate in Canada.
Howard Lutnick is Trump’s secretary of commerce and the primary aggressor behind U.S. tariffs on Canada. He is affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial firm, which has significant stakes in Canadian mining, and BGC, which owns Toronto-based Freedom International (valued at $4.5 billion USD). He once compared accessing U.S. markets to a Costco membership: you have to pay to play.
Jared Isaacman is the administrator of NASA, but his real influence lies in his connections to the private defence sectors. He is the founder and former CEO of Shift4Payments, a consumer finance company, and a former majority stakeholder of the defence company Draken International, which has been subsumed under Blackstone—the largest U.S.-based private equity firm, with $15 billion USD in Canadian assets.
Stephen Feinberg is deputy secretary of Defense and co-founder of and former co-chief executive of Cerberus Capital, a defence and private equity firm with deep ties to U.S. military contracting. https://theijf.org/canadian-governments-us-procurement recipient of Canadian federal contracts, meaning Feinberg stands to influence the strategic priorities of Canadian-United States defence spending. He is also a registered lobbyist in Canada.
Leandro Rizzuto Jr. is Trump’s ambassador to the Organization of American States and the heir to Conair, whose products could face similar sanctions to those imposed on American liquor by provinces, setting a precedent for targeted economic measures.
Warren Stephens is Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. He owns Stephens Inc., which has direct holdings in Canadian companies, including Cashco Financial Inc., DK2 Outdoor Power Equipment (Burlington, Ontario), and FalkBuilt (Alberta, Canada).
Chris Wright is the secretary of Energy and is the former CEO of Liberty Energy, which operates in Alberta’s oil sector. His deep ties to the Canadian energy market underscore the extent to which Trump’s billionaire allies are embedded in industries critical to Canada’s economy.
These seven men alone have a combined net worth of $415 billion. There are another 11 billionaires in Trump’s cabinets, although none of them have clear connections to Canada.
If Canada wants to push back against Trump’s trade war, it needs to impose real financial and political costs on the billionaires driving his agenda. Just as Russian oligarchs were sanctioned to pressure them to reconsider their entrenchment in Putin’s regime, sanctioning Trump’s inner circle can make their continued economic aggression too costly to sustain, giving them reason to push for cooperation.
The rise of oligarchy and déja vu
We’ve seen this before with post-Soviet Russia, where oligarchs seized control of state assets under Boris Yeltsin before consolidating power under Putin. The United States is now on the same trajectory. The difference? Trump’s billionaire inner circle is not just backing his administration; they are running it. The U.S. is witnessing a total capture of a government for the rich, by the rich.
Canada, the U.S., and the EU must utilize the lessons learned from Russia, not just through direct sanctions, but through targeted economic shifts to weaken the billionaire class’ influence. Russia’s oligarchs only faced real consequences when global markets applied severe sanctions, including restrictions on oil exports and financial transactions. These billionaires didn’t just lose money; they lost status and legitimacy.
The U.S. billionaire class must face the same pressure.
In a few short weeks, Trump’s hand-picked billionaires have already used their wealth to erode public institutions, dismantle regulations that impede their profits, and shape economic policy in their favour. This is not free-market capitalism; it is state-sponsored wealth extraction. And, just as in Russia, their actions will have long-term consequences, deepening inequality and undermining democratic governance.
Sanctions as a strategic response
This is Canada’s opportunity to apply the same playbook. From sanctions to regulatory crackdowns, Canada has ways to turn the tables on American oligarchs.
- Freeze assets: Canada froze Russian oligarch’s assets—it’s time to do the same for Trump’s billionaire class. If they hold investments in Canada, those assets should be subject to review, restrictions, or taxation.
- Tear up procurement contracts: Feinberg and Isaacman both have direct ties to U.S. military contracting and Canadian infrastructure projects. Canada could re-examine its federal contracts and ensure our funds are finding their way back to Canadians and not oligarchs’ pockets.
- Counter disinformation: Canada must strengthen its response to foreign-funded disinformation, ensuring that social media platforms, especially Musk’s X but also Meta and other platforms, do not become conduits for American oligarchic propaganda.
Trump’s billionaire cabinet is not just an American problem—it’s a strategic opportunity for Canada. Their wealth isn’t just a symbol of influence; it’s a vulnerability that can be leveraged to push back against Trump’s economic aggression. By targeting the financial footholds these billionaires have in Canada, we can introduce measures that shift the scales of Trump’s inner circle to make it clear that their economic presence here is not a given, but a liability.
Sanctions alone won’t resolve the volatile trade dispute—we need independence from fossil fuels and the U.S. alike—but they can force a choice: keep escalating or protect their own wealth.
