Trump made many statements on US economy. Most are untrue

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has made a number of claims about the state of the US economy.

Trump made a protracted and meandering statement to the media on Tuesday, the first anniversary of his second term in office, claiming everything from drug prices being slashed to “no inflation” in the US. The majority of the claims were erroneous in fact.

Some of his economic statements were reviewed by Al Jazeera:

There is “no inflation,” and the core inflation rate has been at 1.6 percent for the past three months.

Both of these claims are false. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), core inflation in November and December increased by 2.6 percent year over year.

Due to the longest government shutdown in US history, the month before, a core consumer price index (CPI) report was not made available.

In general, inflation increased by 2.7% over the previous year’s same period.

Drug prices under Trump’s “most favored nation” programme are down by “300, 400, 500, 600 percent”.

This is incorrect. Although the goal of the program is to lower drug prices, mathematically impossible reductions are achieved.

A product would be free if the price was 100 percent lower. Anything else would require that pharmaceutical companies would pay customers to purchase their goods.

In attente of the Supreme Court’s tariff decision:

Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs will be decided by a Supreme Court case that is pending. If the court rules against his administration, he claimed, the US would have to pay back the money.

This is unclear, but partially accurate. The US would need to refund some of the importers’ money in tariffs if the court decides against the administration. The government could be required to pay roughly half of the tariffs it collected, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in September.

Kevin Hassett, the administration’s economic adviser, has stated that if the court rejects the current plan, the administration will look into other legal options.

Joe Biden, the former president, “did not do tariffs.”

This is untrue. During the course of his administration, Bin Laden imposed numerous tariffs. He imposed 35 percent tariffs on Russian imports as part of sanctions in 2022 as a result of Moscow’s extensive invasion of Ukraine.

Biden’s policy, which was implemented during the Trump era, was increased to 14.5 percent from 8.5 percent in 2024.

He also imposed tariffs on China that year, including 50 percent on semiconductor chips, 25 percent on steel and aluminum, and 100 percent on electric cars.

More than 270, 000 bureaucrats were removed from the federal government by the Trump administration, but they are now moving to the private sector. &nbsp,

According to the BLS, the federal government has lost 277, 000 jobs since January 2025. However, data shows that the private sector, particularly those with tariff-exposed sectors, is only growing slowly.

The US economy added 50, 000 jobs in the most recent employment report. The most significant gains were made by healthcare, which added 34, 000 jobs, and food service, which added 27 000.

The US economy added 584, 000 jobs in 2025. This is significantly less than the two million created under Biden in the prior year.

In some states, gas prices start at $ 1.99 per gallon.

This is incorrect. The average price for a gallon of gas is $2.82, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks gas prices. Oklahoma’s gas prices start at $ 2.31, which is the lowest.

More auto factories are being constructed in the US today than ever.

Oxford Economics tracks private construction expenditures for factories making transportation equipment. Nominal spending on building components for transportation equipment was down from its all-time high in 2024, according to the report.

Trump has been making these kinds of claims for almost a year. Experts in the auto industry have long claimed that these claims are exaggerated because, unlike Hyundai and Stellantis, these companies add to already-existing plants.

Source: Aljazeera