AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s misfires on Iran, trade and that wall
These statements range from flatly false to mostly so.
Here's a week of political rhetoric in review:
TRUMP, speaking about Iranians "screaming 'death to America'" when
THE FACTS: Yes they have. The death-to-America chant is heard routinely.
The chant, "marg bar Amreeka" in Farsi, dates back even before
It remains a staple of hard-line demonstrations, meetings with current Supreme Leader Ayatollah
In one variation, a demonstrator at
WAGES and TAXES
TRUMP: "Wages are growing, and they are growing at the fastest rate for — this is something so wonderful — for blue-collar workers. The biggest percentage increase — blue-collar workers." — remarks Tuesday in
THE FACTS: He's claiming credit for a trend of rising wages for lower-income blue-collar workers that predates his presidency.
Some of the gains also reflect higher minimum wages passed at the state and local level; the Trump administration opposes an increase to the federal minimum wage.
With the unemployment rate at 3.6%, the lowest since
They are offering higher wages and have pushed up pay for the lowest-paid one-quarter of workers more quickly than for everyone else since 2015. In April, the poorest 25% saw their paychecks increase 4.4% from a year earlier, compared with 3.1% for the richest one-quarter.
Those gains are not necessarily flowing to the "blue collar" workers Trump cited. Instead, when measured by industry, wages are rising more quickly for lower-paid service workers. Hourly pay for retail workers has risen 4.1% in the past year and 3.8% for hotel and restaurant employees. Manufacturing workers — the blue collars — have seen pay rise just 2.2% and construction workers, 3.2%.
TRUMP: "And to keep your family farms and ranches in the family, we eliminated the estate tax, also known as the 'death tax,' on the small farms and ranches and other businesses. That was a big one. ... People were having a farm, they loved their children, and they want to leave it to their children. ... And the estate tax was so much, the children would have to go out and borrow a lot of money from unfriendly bankers, in many cases. And they'd end up losing the farm, and it was a horrible situation." — remarks in
THE FACTS: There still is an estate tax. More small farms may be off the hook for it as a result of changes by the Republican-controlled
Previously, any assets from estates valued at more than
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, only about 80 small farms and closely held businesses were subject to the estate tax in 2017. Those estates represent about 1 percent of all taxable estate tax returns.
TRUMP: "I think we're going to do very well with
THE FACTS: The
With
The agency said it had "reached the point where we can no longer effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct field operations" with the North during this budget year, which ends
Last summer, in line with the first Trump-Kim summit in June, the North turned over 55 boxes of what it said were the remains of an undetermined number of
The Pentagon estimates that about 5,300 Americans were lost in
TRUMP: "We're building a wall ... And by next year, at the end of the year, we're going to have close to 500 miles of wall." — remarks Tuesday at the
TRUMP: "We're going to have close to 500 miles of wall built by the end of next year. That's a lot. And we're moving along very rapidly. We won the big court case, as you know, the other day. And that was a big victory for us." — remarks Monday with
THE FACTS: He's being overly optimistic. It's unclear how Trump arrives at 500 miles (800 km), but he would have to prevail in legal challenges to his declaration of a national emergency or get
So far, the administration has awarded contracts for 247 miles (395 km) of wall construction, but more than half comes from
Even if Trump prevails in court, all but 17 miles (27 km) of his awarded contracts replace existing barriers.
The
Customs and Border Protection officials say the administration wants
TRADE
TRUMP: "Right now, we're getting 25% on
TRUMP: "We're taking in, right now, billions and billions of dollars in tariffs, and they're subsidizing product." — remarks Tuesday in
THE FACTS: He's incorrect. The tariffs he's raised on imports from
A study in March by economists from the
It's also false that the
TRUMP: "Look, without tariffs, we would be captive to every country, and we have been for many years. That's why we have an
THE FACTS: Trump isn't telling the whole story about trade deficits.
When he refers to
The
Mainstream economists reject Trump's argument that the deficits arise from other countries taking advantage of
TRUMP: "You know,
THE FACTS: Trump, who's been in the wine business, is technically wrong about
He's right about a disparity in wine duties.
Tariffs vary by alcohol content and other factors. A bottle of white American wine with 13 percent alcohol content imported into the EU carries a customs duty of
The gap in duties is narrower for red wine with an alcohol content of 14.5 percent.
Bulk wines are another story. The
The value of wine imported by
TRUMP, on special counsel
THE FACTS: He's wrong to repeat the claim that the Mueller report found no collusion between
Mueller's two-year investigation and other scrutiny revealed a multitude of meetings with Russians. Among them:
On collusion, Mueller said he did not assess whether that occurred because it is not a legal term.
He looked into a potential criminal conspiracy between
Mueller noted some Trump campaign officials had declined to testify under the Fifth Amendment or had provided false or incomplete testimony, making it difficult to get a complete picture of what happened during the 2016 campaign. The special counsel wrote that he "cannot rule out the possibility" that unavailable information could have cast a different light on the investigation's findings.
In an interview broadcast Wednesday with
REPUBLICAN SEN.
THE FACTS: Graham is making an unequal comparison.
He seeks to turn the tables on
Moreover, Steele was hired as a private citizen, though one with intelligence contacts.
The Mueller report found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and
Trump and his
TRUMP: "The
THE FACTS: It's highly dubious to say Trump was fully cooperative in the
Trump declined to sit for an interview with Mueller's team, gave written answers that investigators described as "inadequate" and "incomplete," said more than 30 times that he could not remember something he was asked about in writing, and — according to the report — tried to get aides to fire Mueller or otherwise shut or limit the inquiry.
In the end, the Mueller report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and
According to the report, Mueller's team declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on whether to charge partly because of a
TRUMP: "We have people on the Fed that really weren't, you know, they're not my people, but they certainly didn't listen to me because they made a big mistake." — CNBC interview.
THE FACTS: Actually, most of the members on the Fed's
In addition to choosing
There are still two vacancies on the seven-member board. Trump had earlier intended to nominate two political allies —
AUTOMAKERS
TRUMP: "Tariffs are a great negotiating tool, a great revenue producer and, most importantly, a powerful way to get ... companies to come to the
TRUMP: "They took 30% of our automobile companies. They moved into
THE FACTS: He's incorrect that
In 2017, 14% of the vehicles sold in the
TRUMP: "If the Tariffs went on at the higher level, they would all come back." — tweet Tuesday.
TRUMP: "What will happen is the companies will move into
THE FACTS: He's wrong to assume that auto companies in
It takes three years or four years minimum to plan, equip and build an auto assembly plant, so there would be little immediate impact on production or jobs. Auto and parts makers are global companies, and they would also look to countries without tariffs as a place to move their factories. The companies could also just wait until after the 2020 election, hoping that if Trump is defeated, the next president would get rid of the tariffs.
"They're not going to invest in duplicative capacity in response to short-term policy incentives," said
It is possible that some production could be shifted back to
Tariffs on
Industry experts say higher prices would cause more buyers to shift into the used-vehicle market, cutting into new-vehicle sales. Tariffs could be higher than 25% because parts go back and forth across the border multiple times in a highly integrated supply chain.
Vehicles built in
Tariffs would add
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