Trump’s $17 Trillion Investment Claim Exposed As Pure Fiction

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Trump and his cabinet members have been repeating this lie over and over again for months now, bragging about how many investments they’ve supposedly brought to the United States this year, and he did it again this Friday during his lie-filled presser, where he claimed “I think we just cracked $18 trillion in commitments and investments… we are at plus $18+ trillion.”

CNN’s Daniel Dale brings the receipts on Trump’s fiction:

Trump’s own White House website values the “major investment announcements” this term at “$8.8 trillion,” around half the “$17 trillion” and “$18 trillion” numbers Trump used out loud this week. And an item-by-item CNN review of the top 10 items on the White House’s list shows that even the “$8.8 trillion” number is itself a big exaggeration.

The White House list doesn’t show that $8.8 trillion is “being invested now in the United States” or even that there have been $8.8 trillion in credible Trump-era commitments to make eventual investments in the US. Rather, the White House list includes:

• $600 billion from “EU firms” even though the European Union has made clear that this is merely an estimate of potential private investment, not an actual commitment
• $600 billion from Saudi Arabia even though the Saudis’ vague $600 billion pledge encompasses both “investments and trade,” not simply Saudi investment in the US
• $500 billion from India even though the two countries have said the $500 billion is a goal for “bilateral trade,” not Indian investment in the US
• $1.2 trillion from Qatar even though the White House previously announced that Trump’s agreement with Qatar is to generate $1.2 trillion in “economic exchange” between the US and Qatar, not for Qatar to invest $1.2 trillion in the US
• $1.4 trillion from the United Arab Emirates even though this is a vague pledge more than double the size of the UAE’s gross domestic product
• $1 trillion from Japan even though Japan’s actual pledge is $550 billion (and Japan insists that even this smaller amount will overwhelmingly be made up of loans and loan guarantees, not equity investment)
• $450 billion from South Korea even though South Korea made a $350 billion pledge that is in limbo amid tensions with the US (South Korea also promised to increase its US energy purchases to $100 billion, not to add $100 billion in additional energy purchases)
• More than $1 trillion in vague corporate pledges that analysts say likely include normal operational spending and previously planned investments

The White House declined to comment on why the president keeps saying he has gotten “$17 trillion” in investment instead of the White House’s own “$8.8 trillion” figure, and it would not comment on the record to address CNN’s specific questions about the many holes in the “$8.8 trillion” figure.

Go read the rest of the report for more details on their fuzzy math. Any reporter interviewing one of these liars should have Dale’s work printed in front of them to confront them with, but don’t hold your breath.