Media: Trump's Oval Office speech filled with nine false claims, wild exaggerations

US President Donald Trump made at least nine false claims during a recent address to reporters in the Oval Office, some of which were wildly exaggerated statistics on a range of issues, from election results to trade deficits and foreign aid.

Trump’s remarks included inaccurate figures regarding the 2024 presidential election, US aid to Ukraine, the number of migrants entering the US during President Joe Biden’s administration, and US trade deficits with China and Canada, Caliber.Az reports, citing CNN.

The claims, which appeared to be repeated from previous speeches, have sparked concerns over the accuracy of the president’s statements. One of the most notable false claims came when Trump criticised a federal judge overseeing a legal challenge to one of his immigration policies.

While doing so, he exaggerated his own vote total in the 2024 election. Trump remarked, “He didn’t run for president. He didn’t get much more than 80 million votes.” However, the official count shows Trump received approximately 77.3 million votes in the 2024 election, marking his highest total in the three consecutive presidential elections in which he was a candidate. There is no factual basis for his repeated assertion that the 2024 election results were inaccurate. 

Trump also repeated his false claim that the US trade deficit with China had reached $1 trillion or more, attributing this to President Biden’s policies. “We have a trillion-dollar deficit, because of Biden, with President Xi; more than that – I mean, I’ve heard $1.2 trillion,” Trump stated. 

However, official figures from the US government indicate a much smaller deficit. In 2024, the deficit with China in goods and services trade was reported at $263.3 billion, a slight increase from $252.1 billion in 2023, but lower than any year during Trump’s first term. In fact, the 2024 deficit in goods trade alone was $295.2 billion, far from the $1 trillion figure Trump mentioned. The president also reiterated his claim that the US subsidizes Canada to the tune of $200 billion annually. “It costs us $200 billion a year in subsidy to keep Canada afloat,” Trump said. This is another claim without merit. According to official US trade statistics, the 2024 deficit with Canada in goods and services trade was $35.7 billion, and $70.6 billion in goods trade alone. 

Trump has used the $200 billion figure repeatedly, but there is no factual basis for it. Even if the term “subsidy” is used broadly, the figure does not align with any available data. Additionally, while Trump correctly noted that Canada imposes a 270 per cent tariff on some US dairy products, he failed to mention that these high tariffs are only applicable once the US exceeds a specific quota of tariff-free dairy exports to Canada — a threshold that the US dairy industry has not yet reached. 

Finally, Trump made another false claim regarding US aid to Ukraine. He stated, “We’ve given $350 billion to Ukraine.” This figure, however, is far higher than any known official tally. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank that tracks wartime aid, the US had committed around $129 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine by December 2024, with approximately $123 billion allocated. 

While different counting methodologies could result in varied totals, there is no clear evidence to support Trump’s claim of $350 billion. The US government inspector general, responsible for overseeing the Ukraine response, reports that approximately $183 billion had been appropriated by December 2024, with $83 billion already disbursed.

By Naila Huseynova