Trump's State of the Union made the economy central to his 2020 reelection bid - but he's fallen short on 4 key promises

During his first presidential run, Trump pledged to lock in above-average growth for the American economy.

"Over the next 10 years, our economic team estimates that under our plan the economy will average 3.5 percent growth," Trump told the New York Economic Club in September 2016.

But federal statistics show the president has missed that goal each year he's been in office:

• 2017: 2.4%
• 2018: 2.9%
• 2019: 2.3%

Back in 2017 alongside congressional Republicans, Trump signed into law corporate tax cuts arguing it would accelerate economic expansion. But it served as a short-term boost that faded relatively quickly and helped swell the federal deficit.

There was stronger growth during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, which averaged over 3% under them.

Trump made a campaign pledge to wipe out the federal debt within eight years, assuming he would be elected for two presidential terms.

But instead, Trump veered into the opposite direction and embarked on a spending binge. When he assumed office in 2017, the debt was nearly $20 trillion.

But it now stands at over $23 trillion. Trump made no mention to either shrink the mounting national debt nor to reduce the deficit in his address.

The Congressional Budget Office says the deficit will top $1 trillion in 2020, the highest its been since the Great Recession. It will continue steadily increasing as the result of the tax cuts and mounting federal spending.

Another nonpartisan organization, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, estimated Trump has signed $4.7 trillion into law so far.

It doesn't appear to be a big priority for Trump to cut the debt and balance the budget. The president reportedly tore into critics of increased federal spending during his presidency at a Florida fundraiser last month, saying, "Who the hell cares about the budget?"

Trump sought to rescue American manufacturing through trade wars he waged with allies and rivals alike. He embarked on a trade dispute with China in early 2018, and both countries slapped tariffs worth hundreds of billions of dollars on each other.

Manufacturing suffered as a result, since its an industry susceptible to shifts in global trade, particularly tariffs or the rising cost of imported components. The industry just barely slid out of a recession into a state of expansion in January.

Trump, however, put a positive spin at the address, saying he's restoring the country's "manufacturing might."

"After losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations, America has now gained 12,000 new factories under my administration," he said.

But according to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the US added only 11,000 factories since 2017 – and 8,000 of them employ five or fewer employees.

In addition, employment growth in manufacturing slowed to fewer than 50,000 jobs in 2019, the worst rate of his presidency and far from "a blue collar boom."