At his rally in Iowa, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the new trade agreement with China “will boost American agriculture by $50 billion every year.” China agreed to increase agricultural purchases by $12.5 billion this year and $19.5 billion next year compared with 2017 levels.
In announcing “phase one” of a tentative trade deal with China, President Donald Trump wrongly stated that the “all-time high” for U.S. agricultural exports to China was “$16 or $17 billion.” Actually, it was nearly $26 billion in 2012.
Statistical measures of how things have changed since the president took office.
President Trump said he “hereby ordered” U.S. companies to “immediately start looking for an alternative to China,” including moving their operations back to the United States. His top economic adviser later said “we do have such authority, but it is not going to be exercised presently.” Here we look at the 1977 law the administration cited.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed without evidence that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would add “180,000 new jobs per year” in the U.S.
In Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the trade deficit with Japan is “changing rapidly.” In fact, the U.S. deficit in goods and services with Japan is up slightly under Trump.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wrongly claimed that “as many as 300,000 autoworkers may be out of a job before the end of the year.” That’s a high-end estimate for total job losses — not solely among autoworkers — due to the potential impact of the Trump administration’s trade policies, including actions not yet taken.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says the Trump administration has not been fighting China on “stealing intellectual secrets,” claiming that instead it has been “fighting in trade.” But intellectual property issues have been part of ongoing trade negotiations with China.
In his much publicized visit to Iowa, President Donald Trump made a few false and misleading statements about agricultural exports.
In remarks to the press in Iowa and before departing for Iowa, President Donald Trump talked about ongoing trade negotiations with China, and the possibility of enacting further tariffs. But Trump distorted the facts on several points.