President Donald Trump made false claims in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Here is a truth verify of some of Trump’s remarks up to now:
Trump repeated his common false declare that he has secured $18 trillion in investments in the US since returning to workplace, saying, “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.”
The $18 trillion determine is fiction. As of the night time of Trump’s address, the White House’s own website stated the determine for “major investment announcements” throughout this Trump time period was “$9.7 trillion,” and even that could be a main exaggeration; a detailed NCS review in October discovered the White House was counting trillions of {dollars} in obscure funding pledges, pledges that had been about “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” fairly than funding in the US and obscure statements that didn’t even rise to the degree of pledges.
From NCS’s Daniel Dale
Trump claimed fuel costs are “now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places, $1.99 a gallon.” But no state had a mean fuel value on Tuesday under $2.37 per gallon, according to AAA; solely two states had a mean under $2.50 per gallon. And whereas there are some particular person fuel stations promoting fuel for under $2 per gallon, they’re scarce; Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum evaluation for the agency GasBuddy, stated throughout the speech that the agency discovered simply 4 stations throughout the nation under $2 (except for particular reductions) out of the roughly 150,000 stations the agency tracks, so about 0.00003% of the complete.
Trump may pretty say fuel costs have fallen throughout this presidency. They have declined from a nationwide common of $3.12 per gallon on his inauguration day in January 2025, in line with AAA, to a nationwide common of $2.95 per gallon on Tuesday.
In addition, Trump claimed, “And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.” We don’t know what Trump noticed, however the common value for a gallon of common fuel in Iowa on the day of the January 27 speech was $2.57, in line with knowledge revealed that day by AAA – and Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum evaluation for GasBuddy, informed NCS at the time that GasBuddy discovered simply 4 stations in the state promoting for $1.97 per gallon (except for particular reductions) out of 2,036 complete stations the agency tracks, so 0.19% of the complete.
Trump was fact-checked on this topic by an attendee at the Iowa speech he was referring to. When he spoke of fuel in Iowa being $1.95 or $1.85 per gallon, somebody in the crowd shouted, “No, $2.63,” in line with NCS reporter Steve Contorno, who was on scene. Contorno noticed that the fuel station proper outdoors the venue the place Trump spoke was promoting for $2.69 per gallon.
From NCS’s Daniel Dale
Trump falsely claimed that when he gave his earlier address to Congress early final 12 months, he had “just inherited … inflation at record levels.” He added a bit later that Biden and his congressional allies “gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country.”
Trump didn’t inherit the worst inflation in US historical past, and Biden by no means had the worst inflation in US historical past. The year-over-year inflation charge in Biden’s final full month in workplace, December 2024, was 2.9%, and the charge in the month during which Trump took over partway via, January 2025, was 3.0%; the most up-to-date charge, for January 2026, is 2.4%. The charge did hit a 40-year excessive, 9.1%, in June 2022, however that was removed from the all-time high of 23.7%, which was set in 1920. Regardless, the charge then fell sharply over Biden’s final two-and-a-half years in workplace.
From NCS’s Daniel Dale
Trump claimed that he inherited a “stagnant economy” from the Biden administration and that it’s now “roaring like never before.” Though there isn’t any agency definition of “stagnant” or “roaring,” the information don’t corroborate the suggestion that he has presided over an enormous financial increase since returning to workplace in January 2025. The US financial system grew 2.2% in 2025, which was decrease than in any 12 months of the Biden presidency; there was 2.8% growth in 2024. (The fall 2025 authorities shutdown possible lowered progress in late 2025.) The unemployment rate, in the meantime, elevated from 4.0% in January 2025 to 4.3% in January 2026.
The year-over-year Consumer Price Index inflation charge did fall from 3.0% in January 2025 to 2.4% in January 2026, and Trump definitely has another optimistic knowledge factors to quote. But his story about taking the financial system from deceased to scorching is simply not supported by the total numbers.
From NCS’s Daniel Dale
This article will probably be up to date with further gadgets.