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Person: Donald Trump

Trump Expands on Dubious Daily Tariff Revenue Claim

Trump Expands on Dubious Daily Tariff Revenue Claim
April 17, 2025

President Donald Trump has added to his unsupported claim that the U.S. is making “$2 billion a day” from tariffs by saying that the country was losing $2 billion or $3 billion “a day” under President Joe Biden. Economists told us that Trump appears to be wrongly comparing a very high – and unlikely – estimate of potential daily revenue from his tariffs with a figure reflecting the average daily U.S. trade deficit during Biden’s last year in office.

Trump’s Misleading Promotion of ‘Clean’ Coal

Trump’s Misleading Promotion of ‘Clean’ Coal
April 16, 2025

While presenting a series of executive orders conceived to increase electricity generation from coal, President Donald Trump misleadingly suggested that environmental regulations were to blame for the industry’s decline, wrongly said that coal plants are being opened “all over Germany,” and misleadingly, and repeatedly, referred to coal as “clean.”

Trump Uses Questionable Figure for U.S. ‘Plants and Factories’ Lost Since NAFTA

Trump Uses Questionable Figure for U.S. ‘Plants and Factories’ Lost Since NAFTA
April 15, 2025

When President Donald Trump has talked about the need for higher tariffs on imports of foreign goods because of a decline in American manufacturing, he has often made the claim that “90,000 plants and factories” in the U.S. closed after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994. But that figure is questionable, and experts say other factors, such as automation, had more to do with the large decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs than trade.

Independent Analyses Contradict Navarro’s $6 Trillion-Plus Tariff Revenue Estimate

Independent Analyses Contradict Navarro’s $6 Trillion-Plus Tariff Revenue Estimate
April 10, 2025

Before President Donald Trump paused some new tariffs that he unveiled on April 2, several economic groups estimated that tariffs he has announced this year could raise between roughly $2 trillion and more than $4 trillion in federal revenue over a 10-year period. But that’s well short of the $6 trillion or $7 trillion that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed the tariffs would raise to help pay for tax cuts, including an extension of the 2017 tax law.

Democrats Question Social Security Administration Changes in Misleading Terms

Democrats Question Social Security Administration Changes in Misleading Terms
April 9, 2025

Abrupt changes in staffing and some procedures at the Social Security Administration, coupled with false and misleading claims about widespread fraud, have prompted heated criticism from Democrats, with some statements leaving the wrong impression that benefits are being cut. Experts share a concern that disorderly actions by the Trump administration could cause administrative errors and disruptions, but there has been no proposed change to benefits mandated by law.

Trump’s Misleading Tariff Chart

Trump’s Misleading Tariff Chart
April 3, 2025

In his Rose Garden announcement of sweeping new “reciprocal tariffs,” President Donald Trump held aloft a misleading chart that claimed to give a breakdown of the tariffs other countries charge the U.S. and the corresponding tariff that the U.S. will now impose against those countries.

Legal Scholars Dispute Constitutional ‘Loophole’ for a Third Trump Term

Legal Scholars Dispute Constitutional ‘Loophole’ for a Third Trump Term
April 3, 2025

President Donald Trump said in a March 30 interview that “there are methods” for him to serve a third term in the White House, and a Daily Mail article referred to a “loophole” in the 22nd Amendment that would make it possible. But legal experts told us the “loophole” legal argument is “implausible” and “defeats the clear intent” of the amendment.

Trump’s Misleading Claim on Canadian Dairy Tariffs

Trump’s Misleading Claim on Canadian Dairy Tariffs
April 1, 2025

To support his plan to increase tariffs, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the Canadian government charges U.S. farmers a 250% or 270% tariff on dairy products exported to Canada. That’s misleading. There are rates that high on the books, but they would only be charged if U.S. exports exceed predetermined tariff rate quotas, which the dairy exports don’t come close to meeting. 

Q&A on the Alien Enemies Act and Tren de Aragua in the U.S.

Q&A on the Alien Enemies Act and Tren de Aragua in the U.S.
March 28, 2025

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift a District Court judge’s order blocking the use of an obscure 18th century law to summarily expel Venezuelan immigrants. Earlier this month, the administration sent hundreds of immigrants to an El Salvador prison because, officials alleged, they were members of a dangerous gang. We’ll lay out the facts as we know them regarding the key issues.