Fact check: Trump says the US secured $20 trillion in investments this year

United States President Donald Trump has often said that since helium took bureau successful January, the US has received trillions of dollars successful promises of investments, and the dollar magnitude helium cites changes.

On his 2nd time successful office, January 21, Trump said the US had “already secured astir $3 trillion of caller investments”.

By May 8, that fig had risen to “close to $10 trillion“. It yet peaked connected October 29 during a gathering with South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok: “I deliberation by the extremity of my archetypal term, we should person $21 oregon $22 trillion dollars invested successful the United States from different radical and countries,” Trump said.

Since then, Trump has reported varied concern figures:

• On November 27 and December 2, helium said they were worthy astir $20 trillion.
• On December 2, December 3, December 4 and December 9, helium said astir $18 trillion, a fig helium had archetypal cited connected October 10.

Sometimes Trump has phrased the commitments arsenic approaching a dollar figure; different times, he’s said they’ve already deed that number.

In May, erstwhile Trump said, “We person present adjacent to $10 trillion” successful investments, we rated that False. The White House had documented astatine slightest $4.9 trillion little than what Trump claimed.

That $10 trillion fig has astir doubled successful the 7 months since, according to Trump, but it’s unsubstantiated. On the higher end, $22 trillion would beryllium adjacent to astir three-quarters of the United States’ full 2024 annual gross home merchandise (GDP), an bonzer full for the richest state successful the past of the world.

The White House website documents $9.6 trillion, and not everything cited connected the website was recently pledged during Trump’s 2nd term. Experts accidental there’s nary warrant the afloat amounts promised volition travel to fruition, and immoderate of this concern would person occurred careless of who was president.

The White House did not respond to PolitiFact’s questions astir Trump’s statements.

One mode to benchmark Trump’s concern fig is to look astatine what the White House officially documented.

The White House launched a webpage in April that includes a database of countries and companies it said person announced investments during Trump’s 2nd term.

Using the net archive Wayback Machine, we tracked the magnitude of concern the White House website cited implicit time. The figures Trump has utilized were usually astatine slightest treble the magnitude listed connected the website.

In caller weeks, arsenic Trump cited figures from $18 trillion to $22 trillion, the White House website reported $9.6 trillion.

Is Trump accurately framing the overseas and firm investments?

The White House website’s fig includes aspirational goals implicit aggregate years and counts aboriginal purchases of products alternatively than superior investments. For immoderate of the biggest enactment items – specified arsenic commitments by the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – the pledges are aggregate times those countries’ yearly gross home product, which calls their feasibility into question.

A Bloomberg Economics’ analysis recovered that of the $9.6 trillion the White House listed connected its website successful precocious November, $7 trillion could beryllium considered “real concern pledges”. The remaining $2.6 trillion included countries’ agreements to acquisition items specified arsenic earthy state oregon to grow aboriginal trade. The investigation characterised immoderate of the concern pledges by different countries arsenic “amorphous”.

More than 80 percent of the investments from backstage companies stemmed from artificial intelligence-related spending.

“Many of the pledges cited by the White House are portion of overlapping multi-company projects, making it hard to find however overmuch whitethorn beryllium counted much than once,” Bloomberg said.

Ten items connected the White House’s website accounted for the immense bulk of the $9.6 trillion the White House detailed. Some of the White House’s documentation includes details specified arsenic circumstantial companies getting progressive and the types of facilities oregon infrastructure envisioned; different examples are much vague. Some impact accepted investments, portion others person to bash with projected commercialized increases.

1. United Arab Emirates: $1.4 trillion. The White House says this investment focuses connected AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, quantum computing, biotechnology and manufacturing. Companies cited successful a White House quality merchandise see Boeing, GE Aerospace, Emirates Global Aluminum, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Qualcomm and Amazon Web Services. It’s unclear how overmuch of this concern would travel from caller investments.

The UAE’s 2024 gross home merchandise was $537bn, making the pledge adjacent to 3 years of the country’s full economical output.

2. Qatar: $1.2 trillion. The White House property merchandise described this arsenic an “economic exchange”, alternatively than a one-way investment. It cited the engagement of companies including Boeing, GE Aerospace, Raytheon, General Atomics, ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips. The announcement described a substance of commercialized deals, acquisition agreements and concern intentions – items that analysts say often see future-looking efforts alternatively than superior injections.

In 2024, Qatar’s gross home merchandise was $218bn, making this pledge equivalent to astir six years of the country’s full economy.

3. Japan: $1 trillion. The White House has said Japan is moving towards $1 trillion, pursuing an initial agreement to invest $550bn successful sectors specified arsenic semiconductors, shipbuilding, energy, pharmaceuticals, metals and minerals by the extremity of Trump’s term. Japan besides disputes that this volition beryllium a one-way travel of currency into the US. Bloomberg News quoted Japanese commercialized negotiator Ryosei Akazawa saying, “It’s not that $550bn successful currency volition beryllium sent to the US” but alternatively a operation of investments, loans and indebtedness guarantees provided by fiscal institutions backed by the Japanese government.

4. Meta: $600bn. The White House and the societal media company said $600bn is tied to Meta’s US AI infrastructure and workforce enlargement plans done to 2028.

5. Apple: $600bn. Apple’s agelong past of multi-year home concern pledges  means the $600bn fig incorporates anterior commitments plus recent accelerations. Apple’s news merchandise described a caller $100bn boost to bring its full US committedness to $600bn implicit respective years. The merchandise cites a caller American Manufacturing Program, supplier investments and grooming programmes.

6. Saudi Arabia: $600bn. The administration said $600bn from Saudi Arabia would impact the energy, captious minerals and defence sectors.

The magnitude cited would beryllium adjacent to astir fractional of Saudi Arabia’s 2024 gross home product.

7. European Union companies: $600bn. The EU said successful August that “European companies are expected to put an further $600bn crossed strategical sectors successful the United States done 2028.” However, the connection frames this arsenic aspirational, not arsenic a commitment.

8. Stargate: $500bn. This consortium betwixt SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle was unveiled during a January 21 White House event. Stargate said $100bn volition beryllium invested “immediately” and that the consortium “intends to invest” a full of $500bn implicit the adjacent 4 years. OpenAI, among others, published blog posts describing its plans for 5 caller sites that would bring the task to “over $400bn” successful near-term investment, positioning it connected a way to the $500bn target.

9. NVIDIA: $500bn. The White House said NVIDIA has pledged to physique $500bn-worth of AI infrastructure successful the US implicit the adjacent 4 years. NVIDIA has said it is pursuing “ambitious” manufacturing and server accumulation successful the US, but the $500bn fig remains a goal.

10. India: $500bn. What is being called “Mission 500” aims to scope $500bn successful yearly bilateral commercialized by 2030. But it is simply a trade goal, not an concern pledge, and its extremity day would travel aft the extremity of Trump’s term. Further, the model seems to let US purchases of Indian goods to number towards the goal, which does not foster US concern and production.

Importantly, experts said, immoderate of these pledges won’t materialise.

“Historically, large-scale concern announcements often overpromise and underdeliver,” Roman V Yampolskiy, an AI specializer astatine the University of Louisville told PolitiFact successful May. “There is simply a performative constituent to them, particularly successful politically charged contexts. They relation arsenic governmental theatre arsenic overmuch arsenic economical commitment.”

Trump isn’t the archetypal to overstate caller investments. President Joe Biden said successful 2024 that his bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act had attracted $640bn successful backstage investments; economists told PolitiFact that Biden’s numbers were based connected what companies had announced, which is not the aforesaid arsenic dollars already spent.

Our ruling

Trump says the US has received concern commitments totalling $18 trillion to $22 trillion since helium took bureau successful January.

The fig Trump cites is astir treble what the White House’s website lists. And experts accidental the website’s existent figure, $9.6 trillion, should beryllium viewed with caution.

It includes aspirational, multi-year goals that mightiness oregon mightiness not travel to fruition, and immoderate items are aboriginal purchases oregon income of products, alternatively than superior investments.

For the 2 biggest enactment items – commitments from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – the amounts are aggregate times those countries’ yearly gross home product.

We complaint Trump’s connection False.