WASHINGTON: In his first address after being sworn in on Monday, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading statements that he made during his campaign. They included claims about immigration, the economy, electric vehicles and the Panama Canal. Here’s a look at the facts.
Trump repeats unfounded claim about immigrants
CLAIM: Trump, a Republican, said that the US government “fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.”
THE FACTS: There is no evidence other countries are sending their criminals or mentally ill across the border.
Trump frequently brought up this claim during his most recent campaign.
Inflation did not reach record highs under Biden
CLAIM: “I will direct all members of my Cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices.”
THE FACTS: Inflation peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency from a low of 0.1 percent in May 2020. The most recent data shows that as of December it had fallen to 2.9 percent.
Other historical periods have seen higher inflation, such as a more than 14 percent rate in 1980, according to the Federal Reserve.
The average price of basic consumer goods has seen major spikes in recent years. For example, a dozen large eggs went from a low of $1.33 in August 2020 to $4.82 in January 2023. They decreased in price to $2.07 in September 2023 but are currently on the rise again, at $4.15 as of December, partly attributable to a lingering outbreak of bird flu coinciding with high demand during the holiday baking season.
A gallon of whole milk rose to a high of $4.22 in November 2022, up from $2.25 at the start of Biden’s term. As of December, it was at $4.10.
Gasoline fell as low as $1.77 a gallon under Trump. But that price dip happened during coronavirus pandemic lockdowns when few people were driving. The low prices were due to a global health crisis, not Trump’s policies.
Under Biden, gasoline rose to a high of $5.06 in June 2022. It has since been on a downward trend, at $3.15 as of December.
Promise of an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs
CLAIM: Promising to establish an External Revenue Service to collect “all tariffs, duties, and revenues,” Trump said, “It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury, coming from foreign sources.”
THE FACTS: Nearly all economists point out that American consumers will pay at least part, if not most, of the cost of the tariffs. Some exporters overseas may accept lower profits to offset some of the cost of the duties, and the dollar will likely rise in value compared with the currencies of the countries facing tariffs, which could also offset some of the impact.
But the tariffs won’t have the desired impact of spurring more production in the US unless they make foreign-made products more expensive for US consumers.
In addition, many of Trump’s supporters, and even some of his appointees, argue that he intends to use tariffs primarily as a bargaining tool to extract concessions from other countries. Yet if an External Revenue Service is established, it certainly suggests Trump is expecting to impose and collect many duties.
Calls for revocation of EV mandate that doesn’t exist
CLAIM: “We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving the auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers.”
THE FACTS: It’s misleading to claim that such a mandate exists. In April 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency announced strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. The agency says these limits could be met if 67 percent of new-vehicle sales are electric by 2032.
And yet, the new rule would not require automakers to boost electric vehicle sales directly. It sets emissions limits and allows automakers to choose how to meet them.
In 2019, Kamala Harris co-sponsored a bill as a US senator called the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act that would have required 100 percent of new passenger vehicles sold to be zero-emission by 2040. The bill, which stalled in committee, did not ban ownership of vehicles that produce emissions.
China does not operate the Panama Canal
CLAIM: Discussing his desire for the US to take back the Panama Canal: “American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy. And, above all, China is operating the Panama Canal.”
THE FACTS: Officials in Panama have denied Trump’s claims that China is operating the canal and that the US is being overcharged. Ricaurte Vásquez, administrator of the canal, said in an interview with The Associated Press that “there’s no discrimination in the fees.”
“The price rules are uniform for absolutely all those who transit the canal and clearly defined,” he said.
He also said China was not operating the canal. He noted Chinese companies operating in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that US and Taiwanese companies are operating other ports along the canal as well.
Vásquez stressed that the canal can’t give special treatment to US-flagged ships because of a neutrality treaty. He said requests for exceptions are routinely rejected, because the process is clear and there mustn’t be arbitrary variations. The only exception in the neutrality treaty is for American warships, which receive expedited passage.
Trump, complaining about rising charges for ships transiting the canal, has refused to rule out the use of military force to seize control of the canal.
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.