Trump says US has secured $17T in new investments. The number is likely much less.

Washington – Washington (AP) – The economic boom promised by President Donald Trump focuses on only one number: 17 billions of dollars.

This is the sum of the new investments that Trump claims to have generated with his prices, his income tax cuts and his aggressive sale of CEOs, financiers, technological titans, primary, presidents and other leaders. The 17 billions of dollars are supposed to finance new factories, new technologies, more jobs, higher income and faster economic growth.

“In less than eight months of Trump, we have already obtained commitments of 17 billions of dollars,” said the president in a speech last month. “There has never been a country that has done something like it.”

But on the basis of declarations of various companies, foreign countries and the White House website, this figure seems exaggerated, very speculative and much higher than the actual sum. The White House website lists total investments at 8.8 billions of dollars, although this figure seems to be padded with investment commitments made during the presidency of Joe Biden.

The White House did not exhibit the calculations after several requests on the way Trump calculated 17 billions of dollars of investment commitments. But the problem goes beyond Trump’s hyperbolic conversation to his conviction that the brute force of prices and the shame of companies can provide economic results, a strategy that could go on the politically side if difficult speech does not result in more jobs and higher income.

According to a September survey, only 37% of American adults approve Trump’s management of Trump’s economy. It was down compared to a summit of 56% at the beginning of 2020 during the first term of Trump – a memory on which he relied during the courtification of voters in the elections of last year.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, said that the public commitments announced by Trump represent a “significant increase” – but which represents hundreds of billions of dollars, not billions. Even then, this involves long-term costs because countries could be less inclined to invest with the United States after being threatened to do so.

“It is a national security error because you transform allies into a sort of colonies – you have forcibly extracted things that they do not consider to be entirely in their interest,” said Posen. “Turning the arms of governments and then twisting their own business will not give you the gain you want.”

The Trump administration is betting that prices are an effective tool for encouraging other countries and international companies to invest in the United States, a large stick that other administrations have not exercised. Trump’s argument to voters is that he will play a role in the direct management of investment commitments made by foreign countries – and that the distribution of this money starting next year will relive what was a trigger labor market.

“The difference between hypothetical investments and the ground inaugurated in new factories and new facilities is a good leadership and good policy,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

The White House said Japan will invest $ 1 Billion, largely in the direction of Trump. The European Union will hire $ 600 billion. The United Arab Emirates were engaged by 1.4 billion of dollars over 10 years. Qatar has promised $ 1.2 billion of dollars. Saudi Arabia intends to increase $ 600 billion, India $ 500 billion and South Korea $ 450 billion, among others.

The challenge is that the precise terms of these investments have not yet been fully codified and published to the public, and some figures are in dispute, potentially blurred mathematics or, in the case of Qatar, more than five times the gross domestic product of the whole country. The White House maintains that Qatar is good for money because it produces oil.

South Korea already has doubts about its investment commitment, which is $ 100 billion lower than the White House claims, after immigration agents have made a descent into a Hyundai factory under construction in Georgia and arrested Korean citizens. It is also feared that an investment as important without a better way to exchange foreign currencies with the United States affects the economy of South Korea.

“From what I have seen, these commitments are worth as much as the document on which they are not written,” said Jared Bernstein, who was the president of the Blank House Council at Biden.

As for the $ 600 billion committed by European companies, which is based on companies that have “expressed their interest” and declared “intentions” to do so until 2029 rather than an open concession, according to European Union documents.

Until now, there is not yet a significant boost in the investment of companies in percentage of American gross indoor products. As a share of the global economy, commercial investment in the first six months of Trump’s presidency has always rebounded around 14%, just like before the pandemic.

But economists also note that Trump counts double and is based on investments that have been initially announced during the Biden administration or investments that were already due to the construction of artificial intelligence.

For example, the White House lists an investment of $ 16 billion by computer Chipmaker Global Foundries. But of this sum, more than $ 13 billion was announced during the Biden administration and supported by $ 1.6 billion in subsidies by the 2022 flea and science law, as well as other state and federal incentives.

Likewise, the White House drops over $ 200 billion invested by the Micron flea manufacturer, but at least $ 120 billion was announced at the time of Biden.

For their part, the White House officials largely attribute Trump’s prices – such as those imposed on October 1 on kitchen cabinets, large trucks and pharmaceutical drugs – to force companies to invest in the United States, claiming that the risk of additional import taxes if countries and companies do not hold their promises that the money promised is in the economy.

Tuesday, the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, approved this approach after his pharmaceutical pharmaceutical company received a period of grace of three years on prices and announced $ 70 billion in investments in the United States

“The president was absolutely right,” said Bourla. “Prices are the most powerful tool for motivating behavior.”

“The prices played a big role,” added Trump.