CNN fact-checks Trump's remarks on tariffs, inflation, migrants
3 Min Read
During his inaugural speech, President Trump made numerous false claims regarding tariffs, immigration, and inflation.
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President Donald Trump wraps up his speech during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, on Monday, January 20, 2025. (AP)
Sworn-in president of the US Donald Trump falsely claimed during his inaugural speech that tariffs imposed during his first term were paid for by foreign countries, which would "enrich" Americans, CNN reported.
However, several studies, including one from the US International Trade Commission, revealed that Americans mostly bore the expense of Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports throughout his first term.
Taxes are paid by US importers, not foreign exporters, contrary to Trump's statements, CNN clarified, adding that it’s easy to find specific examples of companies that passed along the cost of the tariffs to US consumers.
Trump also discussed the creation of a new "External Revenue Service" to collect income from import duties, something he has previously mentioned. In reality, US importers, not foreign exporters, pay tariffs on imported goods, and they frequently pass on part or all of the costs to US consumers.
The president also claimed the country experienced "record inflation" during the Biden administration, and while he may reasonably claim inflation rate reached a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, it was nothing near the all-time high of 23.7%, established in 1920.
Trump also made a gentler version of his regular rally assertion that foreign countries are intentionally emptying jails and mental facilities to bring individuals to the US as migrants.
He slightly swayed from this view, accusing instead the Biden administration of giving "sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions, that have illegally entered our country from all over the world."
Trump and his presidential campaign have never confirmed the allegation that "many" Biden-era migrants came from jails or mental hospitals, though some may have done time in such facilities. And Trump's team could not back up its claims about foreign countries opening up such facilities for migratory purposes.
The president has occasionally attempted to back his claims by claiming that the worldwide jail population is decreasing, but a World Jail Population List prepared by UK specialists indicates the worldwide jail population climbed from 10.77 million to 10.99 million between October 2021 and April 2024.
Helen Fair, co-author of the prison population list and research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, asserted in June that there is "absolutely no evidence that any country is emptying its prisons and sending them all to the US."
This is the case as Trump attempted throughout his speech to also cast himself as a "peacemaker and a unifier," while several parts of his inaugural address were described as featuring "divisive and dark rhetoric."
