President Trump has made more and more sweeping claims about new investments flowing into america, citing figures as excessive as $21 trillion since taking workplace.
“Twenty-one trillion {dollars} would be the quantity invested in america — or dedicated to take a position — in a single 12 months,” the president mentioned in a November assembly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In an Oval Workplace occasion this Wednesday, President Trump mentioned, “In 10 months, we’ve got $18 trillion being invested.”
However a CBS Information evaluate discovered no proof that whole commitments or new investments strategy the dimensions the president has cited. Whereas corporations and overseas governments have introduced large-scale tasks since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the White Home has not offered documentation displaying whole investments approaching $21 trillion — an quantity roughly two-thirds of the annual GDP.
The administration’s personal checklist of main investments “made potential by President Trump’s management” totaled $9.6 trillion as of the most recent replace in November, however even that determine is exaggerated. It contains some investments introduced underneath President Biden and commerce targets that the U.S. can be partially chargeable for.
The White Home didn’t immediately reply to CBS Information’ questions on these inclusions or the discrepancies between the administration’s whole and the a lot increased figures the president has claimed in his remarks.
“President Trump’s dealmaking has secured trillions in investments to make and rent in America, trillions in business alternatives for American corporations, and trillions in new export alternatives,” White Home spokesman Kush Desai mentioned in a press release.
Federal knowledge exhibits company funding ranges are roughly consistent with final 12 months, with corporations on observe to take a position over $5 trillion in 2025. The $20 trillion surge Mr. Trump has claimed doesn’t seem within the accessible knowledge.
This is a more in-depth have a look at among the funding claims.
Trump claims credit score for some company investments introduced underneath Biden
The White Home checklist contains greater than 100 company commitments totaling over $3 trillion. But among the largest had been initially unveiled years earlier than Mr. Trump took workplace and had been backed by federal funding underneath President Biden’s administration.
The administration lists a $200 billion funding by Micron Know-how in semiconductor manufacturing and analysis. Nonetheless, an organization spokesman confirmed $120 billion of that was beforehand introduced in 2022 and supported by $6 billion in funding from Biden’s Chips and Science Act.
Equally, the White Home attributes a $16 billion GlobalFoundries funding in U.S. chip manufacturing to Mr. Trump. Nonetheless, solely $3 billion is newly promised this 12 months. An organization spokesperson mentioned the remaining $13 billion was initially introduced underneath Biden and backed by tax credit from the Chips and Science Act.
The Trump administration additionally claims credit score for some main clean-energy manufacturing investments, although its personal insurance policies have undercut tasks within the sector, mentioned Tom Taylor, a senior coverage analyst at Atlas Public Coverage, which tracks clear vitality funding within the U.S.
The administration cited Invenergy’s $1.7 billion dedication to a clean-energy transmission undertaking introduced in Could. In July, the U.S. Division of Vitality canceled a $4.9 billion mortgage assure to Invenergy that had been issued underneath Biden. A spokesman for Invenergy mentioned the corporate is continuous its transmission undertaking with non-public financing, together with the beforehand introduced $1.7 billion funding.
“The administration has sort of been on a tear this 12 months about canceling clear vitality tasks,” Taylor mentioned. His analysis exhibits the administration’s funding cuts and coverage shifts have halted over $20.8 billion in clear manufacturing investments this 12 months.
The White Home checklist additionally incorporates obvious errors, together with a $3 billion pledge by Kraft Heinz that seems twice. The administration has not responded to a CBS Information request for clarification.
Overseas commerce targets and aspirational pledges inflate totals
Overseas governments account for practically $6 trillion on the White Home’s checklist, however a number of of the biggest entries are commerce targets — not investments within the U.S.
For instance, in a joint announcement, the U.S. and Qatar dedicated to “generate an financial trade value not less than $1.2 trillion,” with out specifying what portion Qatar would spend or when. The determine can be greater than 5 occasions the gross home product of Qatar in 2024.
Equally, India and the U.S. agreed to “greater than double whole bilateral commerce to $500 billion by 2030” — a commerce goal, not a singular funding dedication.
Some overseas funding pledges touted by Mr. Trump additionally seem aspirational to some economists.
Saudi Arabia promised to take a position roughly $1 trillion within the U.S. in the course of the crown prince’s go to to the White Home in November. However economists, together with Maya Senussi on the Wall Road advisory agency Oxford Economics, have questioned whether or not the oil-rich nation may afford an funding that dimension with international vitality costs declining.
Historical past additionally provides motive for skepticism: Mr. Trump touted in 2017 that Saudi Arabia had agreed to purchase $400 billion in U.S. items, however exports of American items and companies amounted to lower than one-fourth of that whole over his first time period, in response to evaluation by the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
Present U.S. funding ranges stay typical
Federal knowledge means that actual funding spending — versus introduced commitments — stays roughly consistent with final 12 months’s ranges.
Inside the U.S., gross non-public home funding, the broadest measure of what U.S. corporations are spending to broaden their companies, is projected to whole about $5.4 trillion this 12 months, in response to the Bureau of Financial Evaluation, or BEA. That is up roughly $100 billion from the identical level final 12 months, however far under the multitrillion-dollar surge Mr. Trump has talked about.
“Trump could also be speaking about commitments which have but to occur. However on precise funding spending — so new tools, buildings and equipment — 2025 is much like 2024,” Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford College, instructed CBS Information in an electronic mail.
Some analysis means that overseas companies have sharply elevated the variety of spending pledges underneath Mr. Trump. They’ve promised to take a position over $270 billion from January to October, greater than double the quantity introduced underneath Biden in the identical interval, in response to fDi intelligence, which is a part of the Monetary Occasions.
However consultants say bulletins don’t all the time translate into realized funding.
New overseas direct funding — the precise quantity that overseas corporations put into U.S. subsidiaries and tasks — additionally stays regular. Overseas corporations made roughly $145 billion value of latest funding within the U.S. within the first half of the 12 months, practically similar to the $144 billion invested in the identical time interval final 12 months, BEA knowledge exhibits.
Analysts on the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics, an impartial suppose tank, estimate overseas investments will are available underneath $400 billion this 12 months, properly under file ranges.
“He is acquired much more by way of bulletins and guarantees than any prior president. However how a lot does that actually imply by way of cash coming in?” mentioned Gary Clyde Hufbauer, nonresident senior fellow on the Peterson Institute.
This story has been up to date with further data from Invenergy.
