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3 days ago
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Since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has touted firm and foreign US investment announcements arsenic impervious helium is ushering successful “the aureate property of America”.
On January 21, Trump said that earlier he’d finished the “first afloat concern day” of his 2nd term, the United States had “already secured astir $3 trillion of caller investments”.
On April 2, helium said, “It looks similar we’re going to person astir $6 trillion of investments”. Six days later, Trump told National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner attendees that the concern full was “now revised up to astir $7 (trillion)”.
During an April 30 NewsNation municipality hall, Trump speculated that “it could beryllium much than $8 trillion”.
On May 4, Trump told Kristen Welker, the big of the NBC News programme Meet the Press, “I deliberation we astir apt person adjacent to $9 trillion of investments coming into this country.”
On May 6, Trump told reporters, “I deliberation the existent fig could beryllium $9 oregon $10 trillion.”
Finally, connected May 8, Trump said, “We person present adjacent to $10 trillion — deliberation of that, $10 trillion” successful investments. “We’re talking astir fundamentally 2 months.”
That’s acold beyond the figures the White House has released publicly.
We tallied the White House’s nationalist lists of investments; they magnitude to $2.1 trillion successful firm investments, oregon astatine astir $5.1 trillion erstwhile including promised investments from different countries. Experts cautioned that the promised firm investments are not guaranteed to materialise successful full, oregon during Trump’s presidency, and immoderate of them would person occurred careless of who was president.
Trump isn’t the archetypal to overstate caller investments connected his watch. Outgoing US 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.
Roman V Yampolskiy, a University of Louisville prof and a specializer successful artificial intelligence, which dominates the promised investments Trump cited, said, “Historically, large-scale concern announcements often overpromise and underdeliver. There is simply a performative constituent to them, particularly successful politically charged contexts. They relation arsenic governmental theatre arsenic overmuch arsenic economical commitment.”
White House lists bash not lucifer Trump’s words
Since Trump’s inauguration, the White House has publicised concern announcements from 3 countries and astir 60 companies connected its website, including successful a “non-comprehensive moving list”. Many of the highest-dollar firm announcements were successful March and April.
Corporate announcements successful the White House’s lists full astir $2.1 trillion worthy of US investment.
The White House separately has cited commitments from the United Arab Emirates to put $1.4 trillion implicit the adjacent 10 years; from Japan to “boost” its concern successful the US to $1 trillion; and from Saudi Arabia to put $600bn successful the US during Trump’s presidency. Combined with the firm announcements, these bring the full to astir $5.1 trillion, $4.9 trillion abbreviated of Trump’s figure.
But the $5.1 trillion full has caveats. For example, the White House said “Japan announced a $1 trillion concern successful the US”, but the nonfiction it linked said successful 2023, Japan’s US concern was $783.3bn and Japan would “boost” that to $1 trillion. That’s an summation of $216.7bn alternatively than a caller $1 trillion investment. That would enactment the full worth of recently pledged US concern astatine astir $4.3 trillion.
Trump’s second-term White House tally of US investments
The White House figures can’t easy beryllium utilized for apples-to-apples comparisons. Some of the investments are planned implicit Trump’s four-year term, others implicit 5 years oregon a decade. In 1 lawsuit – ADQ and Energy Capital Partners’ planned $25bn concern — it isn’t constricted to US-based projects.
The White House declined to item further investments. A spokesperson pointed to national Bureau of Economic Analysis information that shows a 22 percent summation successful concern business successful the archetypal 4th of 2025, calling it a historical increase.
However, experts cautioned this summation was shaped by businesses stocking up connected inventory earlier Trump’s tariffs instrumentality effect and said the summation is improbable to beryllium sustained.
Many of the announcements are aspirational, experts say
Experts told PolitiFact that each of the 5 biggest investments connected Trump’s database warrants immoderate caution, due to the fact that they mightiness not scope Trump’s cited dollar amounts oregon were not solely prompted by Trump’s policies.
“Many of these announcements, peculiarly those successful the AI and semiconductor sectors, look to be, astatine slightest successful part, aspirational successful nature,” Yampolskiy said. “They service a signalling function: to pull capitalist attention, signifier argumentation discourse, and unafraid favourable regulatory oregon backing environments.”
The 5 largest institution investments collectively relationship for 82 percent of the dollar worth connected the White House’s firm list.
Five companies accounting for the bulk of caller concern promises are:
Stargate
The Stargate Project is an artificial quality collaboration among OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, announced during a January 21 White House event. The White House values the concern astatine $500bn.
The company’s official announcement says $100bn volition beryllium invested “immediately” and that it “intends to invest” a full of $500bn implicit the adjacent 4 years, a extremity repeated by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son astatine the White House event.
“Whether that overmuch volition yet get spent remains to beryllium seen,” wrote John Higgins, main economist astatine Capital Economics, an planetary consulting firm.
Enrique Dans, who studies exertion and argumentation astatine Madrid’s IE Business School, said the $500bn fig is “astronomical – astir 2 percent of US gross home merchandise – and lacks wide documentation”.
At the White House event, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “We wouldn’t beryllium capable to bash this without you, Mr President.” But Altman had been discussing plans for a $100bn concern 10 months earlier Trump won his 2nd term, The Washington Post reported, including an Abilene, Texas, information centre that began operation successful summertime 2024.
“AI investments person been connected a planetary trajectory driven by technological maturity and competitory pressure, particularly from China,” Dans said. “Any US president would person seen a surge.”
Nvidia
Nvidia Corp, different AI company, said it plans to put up to $500bn successful US infrastructure implicit the adjacent 4 years. Previously, Nvidia manufactured most of its chips successful Taiwan.
“It is improbable Nvidia would person moved immoderate accumulation to the US if it was not for unit from the Trump administration,” Gil Luria, an expert with the fiscal services steadfast D.A. Davidson, told Reuters. However, Luria added, “The fractional a trillion fig is apt hyperbole.”
Dans said that though taxation cuts from Trump’s archetypal word person benefited the company’s absorption connected US-based efforts, “the halfway maturation apt would person occurred anyway”, careless of the president.
Apple
On February 24, days aft Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, met with Trump, the user electronics giant announced it plans to walk “more than $500bn successful the US implicit the adjacent 4 years.”
Analysts person expressed scepticism that this represents caller investment. Dans called the concern “simply much of what [Apple] already does,” from “day-to-day activities with thousands of suppliers successful each 50 states to the cognition of its home information centres, arsenic good arsenic its investments successful Apple TV+ and different projects already manufactured successful the country.”
In a enactment to investors, David Vogt, an expert with the Swiss-based slope UBS, wrote, “Call america a sceptic. … We judge [the figure] lacks substance.”
IBM
IBM announced April 28 plans to put $150bn successful the US, including much than $30bn successful probe and improvement connected US-based manufacturing of mainframe and quantum computers.
This is “not intelligibly Trump-related,” Dans said. “IBM’s strategy pivots person been nether mode since the 2010s.”
Luria said, “While we judge IBM volition proceed to put successful the emerging country of quantum technology, the bombastic fig is much apt a motion towards the US administration,” Reuters reported.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which makes semiconductors for computing and electronics, has pledged to walk $100bn successful the US. Analysts said this fig is the astir well-supported among the investments that Trump cites. Although bringing semiconductor accumulation backmost to the US began during Trump’s archetypal term, it was “greatly accelerated by” Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, which prompted years of concern earlier Trump’s 2nd term, Dans said.
Over the past 5 years, the institution has spent astatine slightest $65bn connected fabrication facilities adjacent Phoenix, Arizona, funded successful portion by $6.6bn from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Overall, Dans said, “Trump mightiness merit immoderate partial recognition for mounting a much assertive code connected economical nationalism and proviso concatenation reshoring, and for lowering the firm taxation reform, which did impact repatriation and immoderate concern decisions. But astir of these trends — the AI boom, the semiconductor reshoring, the unreality computing infrastructure — are semipermanent structural shifts that predate Trump and volition proceed careless of who is successful office.”
Our ruling
Trump said, “We person present adjacent to $10 trillion, deliberation of that, $10 trillion” successful investments. “We’re talking astir fundamentally 2 months.”
The White House has pointed to concern announcements totalling $5.1 trillion, including $2.1 trillion from companies and the remainder from countries.
That’s astatine slightest $4.9 trillion abbreviated of Trump’s figure, and these announcements correspond future spending, immoderate of which is planned implicit 4 years, 5 years oregon a decade.
Experts said galore of the dollar amounts are aspirational and that the investments announced mightiness ne'er beryllium afloat reached. They besides said immoderate of this concern would person occurred careless of who was president.
We complaint the connection false.
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