The duties announced yesterday by US President Donald Trump have caused a worldwide shock with analysts worrying that their implementation is more likely to lead to recession than to growth. And during his speech, the US president may have tried to persuade American citizens, businessmen and investors that everything is being done for the good of America, however, the Washington Post has identified some lies.

Trump: “For years, American citizens who work hard have been forced to be on the sidelines as other nations became rich and powerful, to a large extent to us. But now it is our turn to prosper and in this way, to use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay our national debt. “

According to the Washington Post, this is an exaggeration of Trump. According to the US president, the United States is a poor country, flooded with external forces. But in reality the US, not only have the largest GDP in the world, but their GDP per capita is much higher than any big country. For example, US GDP per capita is almost $ 90,000, compared to China’s $ 14,000, Germany’s $ 58,000 and Japan $ 36,000.

Duties are actually a tax increase, an increase that is largely dropped to lower income workers. Economists agree that duties are paid by importers, such as US companies, who in turn pass most or all costs to consumers or producers who may use imported materials to their products. About the elasticity of demand and supply, foreign producers will pay part of the tax if they sell less goods in the US. Domestic producers actually receive a subsidy because they can increase their prices at the level imposed by importers.

Not only duties are unlikely to reduce the budget deficit, but it is probably a product of a fantasy that national debt can be paid thanks to duties.

Trump: “The United States imposes only 2.4% on other countries on imported motorcycles. Meanwhile, Thailand and other countries charge much higher prices, such as 60%, India charges 70%, Vietnam charges 75%, and others are even higher than that. Similarly, to date, the United States has charged 2.5% of foreign duty duties for decades. Our Union charges more than 10%duties. “

Some of Trump’s numbers are suspected, according to the Washington Post. India charges 50%duties on motorcycles, not 70%, and recently announced a decrease to 40%. Harley-Davidson assembles most of the motorcycles sold in the country in India. While Trump highlights US low duties on foreign cars, he ignores the fact that for more than 50 years the US has imposed 25% duties on trucks. This is a much higher percentage than the European duty on cars.

In addition, the European Union is the largest export market for the US, and if Europeans are opposing, this will be a great loss for US manufacturers. International trade operates in such a way that some countries dominate some markets and not compete so much others. The French have commercial restrictions on American wine, such as the US, have commercial restrictions on French clothes.

Trump: “Toyota sells 1 million foreign -made cars in the United States and General Motors sells almost no one. Ford sells very little. None of our companies are allowed to go to other countries. “

This is a misleading statement for the Washington Post. Market forces, not trade, are a crucial factor. US cars did badly to Japan because the Japanese prefer smaller models with more efficient fuel consumption. But the Chinese like American cars, which, unlike Trump’s claim, are allowed to be sold there. By 2023, General Motors sold more cars in China than in the US, but sales declined because China has developed a preference for electric cars – where GM lags.

Trump: “Canada, incidentally, imposes duties of 250 to 300% on many of our dairy products »

According to the Washington Post, Trump forgot that he made this. The high duty on dairy products was largely abolished during Trump’s renegotiation on North American Free Trade Agreement during his first term.

Trump: “And with countries like Canada, you know, we subsidize many countries and continue and keep them at work. In the case of Mexico, it is $ 300 billion a year. In the case of Canada, it is close to $ 200 billion a year. “

As the Washington Post points out, Trump once again made a mistake in the numbers. The “subsidy” to Canada is supposed to include military benefits provided by the US to NATO ally, but the numbers are not the ones said by Trump. In 2024, the deficit in the trade of goods and services with Canada was about $ 45 billion. The commercial deficit with Mexico was about $ 172 billion in 2024.

Trump: “In 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established income tax so that citizens, and not foreign countries, would begin to pay the money necessary for the administration of our government. Then, in 1929, it all ended very abruptly with the Great Depression and would never have happened, if they had stayed in the policy of duties, it would be a very different story. “

According to the Washington Post this is a nonsense. Income tax was intended to shift the burden on the richest Americans, as the cost of duties falls mainly to people with lower incomes. Tax revenue was also considered a more stable source of capital. A great advocate of income tax was Republican Theodore Roosevelt. In terms of the Great Depression, many historians attribute it to the Smoot-Hawley duty law, which was signed in 1930, which exacerbated the economic slowdown because it triggered a world trade war.

Trump: “Since the beginning of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), our country has lost 90,000 factories.”

The Washington Post, doubts 90,000 factories. The number comes from the Business Dynamics Statistics of the inventory office, which has a tool that analyzes the data. About one -third of the manufacturing facilities employs four or fewer people, which does not actually make factories. Manufacturing facilities with more than 500 people decreased from 4,535 to 2000 to 3,316 in 2022.

Trump: ‘5 million jobs were lost in manufacturing while commercial deficits were collected 19 trillion dollars. This [Συμφωνία Ελεύθερου Εμπορίου της Βόρειας Αμερικής] It was the worst trade agreement ever made. “

As the Washington Post comments, this is mainly due to China. Trump blames NAFTA, but a key factor in decline in manufacturing was China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

Trump: “Apple will spend $ 500 billion. They never spent so much money here. “

According to the Washington Post, Biden had a similar deal. A few months after taking up its duties, Apple pledged to invest $ 430 billion over five years in the US. If adapted to inflation, it is $ 525 billion.

Trump: “If you look at China, I got hundreds of billions of dollars in my term.”

This is a lie says, the Washington Post. Records kept by the US Customs and Border Protection Service showed that about $ 75 billion were raised by Chinese products until Trump left power – most of which were paid by US consumers.