One of Donald Trump‘s boastful claims during the longest State of the Union speech of his second term has reportedly been proven wrong by his own White House. At the time, Trump claimed to have secured commitments totaling more than $18 trillion from around the world. NBC News, which fact-checked his claim, found it incorrect, noting that the official White House website lists a different figure than the one stated.
White House contradicts Donald Trump’s SOTU claims
Donald Trump delivered a lengthy speech during his first State of the Union address after beginning his second term, in which he made several bold claims. One of them concerned the commitments and investments Trump said he had secured from around the world for his country. He said that he “secured commitments for more than $18 trillion, pouring in from all over the globe,” a claim that the White House website contradicts.
NBC News fact-checked several of Trump’s claims during the speech, issuing verdicts on their accuracy and providing detailed analyses. The outlet claims that total international and domestic investments and commitments secured were $9.7 trillion, per the website. This indicates a pretty large gap of $8.3 trillion between what was claimed and what the White House considers accurate.
Additionally, the analysis claimed that although several companies had announced plans to invest in the U.S., many of these investments were not new. It revealed that some had already been announced earlier and were later revised with slight increases, while the rest were already part of existing plans. The outlet further states, “Many of the commitments are also over the long term and are likely to be subject to change.”
According to Bloomberg Economics, the figure on the website, which was $9.6 trillion at the time, was questionable as well. This is because only $7 trillion of the listed amount represented actual investments, whereas the rest did not. It was also learned that more than $250 billion of the White House’s pledges had been announced before Trump took office.
