Checking the wrong statements from Trump to tariffs and trade

Checking the wrong statements from Trump to tariffs and trade

President Donald Trump in his speech on Wednesday, in which he announced an extensive reform of global tariffs, made a number of false claims about tariffs and trade - he had already expressed most of them.

fact check for Trump's comments

Here are some points that check Trump's statements.

Canada's milk products and tariffs

Trump correctly mentioned that Canada tariffs tariff of over 250% to some US milk products. However, he wrongly claimed that "the first small cardboard milk" that is exported to Canada was exposed to a "very low price", while the tariffs would then increase to "275, 300%".

In fact, Canada guarantees that tens of thousands of US milk imported by tons, and not just a single box, do not have to pay any tariffs at all. As part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreements (USMCA) negotiated by Trump's first government, Kanada has granted a certain guaranteed access for duty-free US milk products. In addition, the US milk industry recognizes that the United States does not reach its duty-free export maximum in any category of dairy products; In the case of milk in particular, the United States is not even half of the duty -free contingent. There is currently a lively debate between the USA and Canada about why the United States is so far from the maximum, with each side accusing the other. Regardless of those who are right, the tariffs are not applied to US milk.

US trade balance with Canada

Trump claimed that "we subsidize many countries" and called a sum of "almost $ 200 billion a year" with Canada. He used this number repeatedly to describe the United States' trade deficit with Canada, which is actually well below 200 billion. Official US statistics show that the deficit with Canada in 2024 was $ 35.7 billion in the trade in goods and services and $ 70.6 billion in goods trading.

Although Trump expressly mentioned this time, there is no basis for his claim that this is a kind of subsidy.

who pays tariffs?

Trump repeated his often incorrectly presented claim that the United States took "hundreds of billions of dollars" who "were paid by them" due to the tariffs that he had imposed on China during his first term. In fact, however, US importers, and non-foreign exporters such as China, pay the tariffs. Studies have shown that the costs of the Trump's first term in office in China were mainly borne by the Americans; There are numerous examples of companies that passed on the burden of tariffs to US consumers.

tariff of former presidents on China

Trump also wrongly claimed that China had never paid a cent to other presidents "from tariffs" before his first presidency. Apart from the fact that the payments are made by US importers, the United States actually achieved billions of dollars a year in revenue from tariffs on Chinese imports before Trump came into account. The United States has had tariffs on Chinese imports since 1789. Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama, also raised additional tariffs to Chinese goods.

assets of the USA

Trump emphasized the alleged advantages of tariffs and said that "the United States were proportional to the richest country that ever existed" from 1789 to 1913, when the tariffs made a higher proportion of the federal revenue, before the entry into force of a law from 1913, which reintroduced the federal income tax.

What Trump meant by "proportional the richest" he did not explain, but in terms of the common standards, the United States is far more wealthy than at the beginning of the 20th century. The gross domestic product per capita is now many times higher than then. Douglas Irwin, an economist at Dartmouth College, who deals with the history of US trade policy, explained that Trump's unclear comments are obviously not correct, since the real per capita income and living standards are much higher today than in the past.

inflation under bidges and Trump

Trump mistakenly claimed, while Joe Biden's presidency had experienced the USA "the highest" inflation "in the history of our country". While the annual inflation of the United States in June 2022 reached a 40th anniversary with 9.1%, however, this was far from the all-time high of 23.7%, which was reached in 1920. At the end of Biden's term in December 2024, inflation was 2.9% and in January 2025.

Trump behauptete ebenfalls, während seiner ersten Präsidentschaft habe es „fast keine Inflation“ gegeben. Although he was "almost" a scope, there was an inflation of around 8%in the first four years of his term.

petrol prices

Trump said that he had "dramatically reduced" gasoline prices since he was back in office at the end of January and said, "Petrol costs less than $ 3". This applies to some parts of the country, but the national average for regular petrol was on the day he spoke at about $ 3.24 per gallon - higher than on the day of its inauguration, as the national average was about $ 3.12

That does not mean that Trump is responsible for the increase; President only have a limited influence on gasoline prices, and there was a greater increase in the previous year. So far, the national average values have not decreased during this presidency.

This story has been updated with additional details.