Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart poured billions of dollars into US-exposed stocks and exchange-traded funds in the months before the mining magnate’s political idol Donald Trump sparked a global trade war that wreaked havoc on sharemarkets.

Hancock Prospecting’s latest filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission showed the value of Rinehart’s US stock holdings had more than doubled to $US2.5 billion ($3.9 billion) in the three months to March 31.