A running list of the false or misleading claims Trump makes about the economy

Jobs

Claim: "The economy is doing great. More people working in U.S.A. today than at any time in our HISTORY. Media barely covers!" (January 2019)

Fact check: This is misleading. Trump is right that there are more people working in the US than at any other point in history. But there are also more people than ever in the country. The number of jobs added during the Trump presidency has largely kept in line with population growth.

Manufacturing

Claim: "We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs — something which almost everyone said was impossible to do, but the fact is, we are just gettin started." (February 2019)

Fact check: This is false. According to the Labor Department, about 436,000 factory jobs had been created at this point of the Trump presidency. And the sector has begun to gradually shed some of those positions since then.

Claim: "We have a miracle … It's been an extraordinary resurgence of American manufacturing." (July 2019)

Fact check: This is misleading. American manufacturing picked up in the first year of the Trump White House. But activity has fallen sharply over the past two years as tariffs levied by the president exacerbate a broader slowdown in factory activity. By 2019, the sector had fallen into a recession.

Dollar

Claim: "Our Dollar is now the strongest in history. Sounds good, doesn't it? Except to those (manufacturers) that make product for sale outside the U.S."

Fact check: This is false. Trump has said this at various points in office, often as part of his attacks on the Federal Reserve. While the greenback has remained strong against other major currencies in recent years, it was even higher on common indexes as recently as 2016. Its peak strength was in the 1980's.

Trade

Claim: "Don't forget China's paying us tens of billions of dollars in tariffs, and it's had a huge impact on China. And it hasn't cost us anything because they devalued their currency or they've poured money in. It hasn't cost us — they've eaten that. They've eaten it totally." (October 2019)

Fact check: This is false. Study after study shows that the cost of tariffs are passed through to domestic companies and consumers. This means Americans are mostly paying import taxes on Chinese goods.

Claim: "We are doing great with farmers now in a lot of ways. One way is we're giving $16 billion out of all the tariffs we're collecting. Sixteen billion dollars all comes out of the tariffs that we've gotten from China." (July 2019)

Fact check: This is false. His now $28 billion Market Facilitation Program, which offers direct payments to farmers suffering damage from tariffs, is funded by US taxpayers.

Financial markets

Claim: "The S&P just hit an ALL TIME HIGH. This is a big win for jobs, 401-K's, and, frankly, EVERYONE! Our Country is doing great." (October 2019)

Fact check: This is false. Roughly half of Americans have not invested in stocks at all, whether it be through retirement packages or shares in public companies. In 2016, about 84% of stocks were owned by the top 10% of households.

Immigration

Claim: "Illegal Immigration costs the USA over 300 Billion Dollars a year."

Fact check: This is false. Estimates on the net costs of illegal immigration vary, but most are a fraction of that number. A 2013 report from the conservative Heritage Foundation, for example, estimated that illegal immigrant households impose a fiscal burden of about $54.5 billion per year. Even anti-immigration groups have disputed the $300 billion figure.