The soon-to-be inaugurated president made a number of distorted and incorrect statements about various subjects which were central to his 2024 campaign. The president-elect has inaccurately portrayed the United States’ trading imbalances with Canada and Mexico.
In his initial televised one-on-one interview following his recent electoral victory, President-elect Donald J. Trump made a repeat performance of several false assertions and inaccuracies. These statements were synonymous with his 2024 campaign and covered a broad swathe of topics.
The interview was broadcasted on Sunday by NBC’s program, ‘Meet the Press’. During this session, Mr. Trump incorrectly outlined the impact of tariffs. He also grossly over-reported the volume of unauthorized immigrants that were set free by the Biden administration, unjustifiably stated that the level of crime had reached ‘a historic peak’.
In addition, he inaccurately characterized the defense budget of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and, not stopping at this, he also overstated the figures of his personal polls. He made a number of other questionable claims as well. Below is a detailed analysis.
On the subject of commerce and the state of the economy, Donald J. Trump made an error reporting there was ‘no inflation’ during his preliminary tenure. He also stated that inflation only emerged a year and half into the administration of Biden. This assertion is false as year-over-year inflation fluctuated between 1 and 2 percent from the years of 2017 to 2020 and subsequently escalated to 4.7 percent in 2021.
Moreover, the exaggeration of the US trade deficit with Canada and Mexico by the president-elect is evident. He reported these deficits as $100 billion and $300 billion respectively, labeling them as subsidies. However, the reality is different. The trade deficit in goods and services with Canada stood at $41 billion, while with Mexico it was $162 billion. A deficit merely denotes that consumers in one nation are purchasing more from the other country. It does not imply a transfer of funds.
Furthermore, his assertion that European countries ‘refuse our cars, our culinary products, they refuse everything’ is blatantly untrue. As it stands, Europe is the second biggest market for US automobile exports. Moreover, goods exported by the United States to the European continent almost amounted to $415 billion in 2023.
Lastly, his claim that tariffs ‘don’t cost American citizens a dime’ is one that goes against the consensus held by economists. The generally accepted view of economists is that the expenses of tariffs ultimately land on the consumers.