{"id":2943,"date":"2024-10-16T17:17:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T17:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/fact-check-john-deere-says-trumps-story-about-how-he-saved-us-jobs-with-a-tariff-threat-is-fictional-cnn-politics\/"},"modified":"2024-10-16T17:17:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T17:17:30","slug":"fact-check-john-deere-says-trumps-story-about-how-he-saved-us-jobs-with-a-tariff-threat-is-fictional-cnn-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/fact-check-john-deere-says-trumps-story-about-how-he-saved-us-jobs-with-a-tariff-threat-is-fictional-cnn-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact check: John Deere says Trump\u2019s story about how he saved US jobs with a tariff threat is fictional | CNN Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Washington<\/span>
\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n When former President Donald Trump was challenged at a Tuesday event about the potential economic harms of his proposal for across-the-board tariffs on imported goods<\/a>, Trump told what sounded like a tariff success story.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said that in response to his threat<\/a> to impose hefty tariffs on John Deere if the storied American farm equipment maker went ahead with a plan to move<\/a> some production from the US to Mexico, the company had just announced it was likely abandoning that outsourcing plan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump said<\/a>: \u201cAre you ready? John Deere, great company. They announced about a year ago they\u2019re gonna build big plants outside of the United States. Right? They\u2019re going to build them in Mexico \u2026 I said, \u2018If John Deere builds those plants, they\u2019re not selling anything into the United States.\u2019 They just announced yesterday they\u2019re probably not going to build the plants, OK? I kept the jobs here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But a search of news articles and corporate press releases showed nothing about any such John Deere announcement the day prior. And in response to Trump\u2019s story, a John Deere spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and Bloomberg News<\/a> that it had not changed its plans or announced any such changes.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Trump campaign did not respond to a CNN request for any evidence for the former president\u2019s story.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump has told numerous fictional tales<\/a> in recent weeks. Aside from the John Deere story, the Republican presidential nominee made at least 19 false claims at the Tuesday event, which was a public interview at the Economic Club of Chicago that was conducted by John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.\n <\/p>\n

\n Harris, migrants and criminals<\/strong>: Trump, criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration, again\u00a0falsely described<\/a>\u00a0a recently released set of statistics about immigrants in the US with homicide convictions, claiming<\/a> again that the figures are specifically about people who entered the country during the Biden-Harris administration: \u201cIt came out that 13,099 were let in, during their<\/em> administration \u2013 they tried to say longer, wrong: over the last three-and-a-half years \u2013 13,000-plus people came in: murderers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In reality, these figures are about people who entered the country over decades, including during Trump\u2019s own administration, not just under Biden and Harris. And, critically, the figures include people who are currently incarcerated in federal, state and local prisons and jails. You can read more\u00a0here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Guns and the Capitol riot:<\/strong> Trump, speaking of rioters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, repeated<\/a> his false claim that \u201cnot one of those people had a gun.\u201d It has been proven in court that multiple rioters had guns<\/a> \u2013 in addition to stun guns, knives, chemical sprays and numerous other weapons.\n <\/p>\n

\n The size of the Capitol riot: <\/strong>Trump correctly noted that the Washington, DC, rally he addressed prior to the Capitol riot was peaceful, but then wrongly described the size of the riot, saying<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you had \u2013 five, six, seven hundred people \u2013 go down to the Capitol.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s figures are way off. The Justice Department said<\/a> in an official update earlier this month that about 1,532 defendants had, so far, been federally charged with crimes associated with the attack on the Capitol. The FBI said<\/a> in 2021 that \u201capproximately 2,000 individuals are believed to have been involved with the siege\u201d and the actual number might well be hundreds higher<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Inflation under Trump: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that there was \u201cno inflation\u201d over his four years as president. Cumulative inflation during Trump\u2019s presidency was about 8%<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Inflation under Biden: <\/strong>Trump also falsely claimed<\/a>, \u201cBiden went two years with no inflation, because he inherited from me. And then they started spending money like drunken sailors.\u201d Cumulative inflation<\/a> during Biden\u2019s first two years as president was about 14%<\/a>, and inflation increased sharply in Biden\u2019s first months as president in 2021. In fact, the Biden-era peak for year-over-year inflation, about 9.1% in June 2022, happened within Biden\u2019s first two years as president.\n <\/p>\n

\n Supreme Court justices: <\/strong>Trump correctly said that he was able to appoint three Supreme Court justices, but he falsely added<\/a>, \u201cMost presidents don\u2019t even get to put a Supreme Court judge in.\u201d Just four presidents didn\u2019t get to appoint a Supreme Court justice, as PolitiFact previously reported<\/a> when Trump made a similar claim; three of those four presidents served less than a full term.\n <\/p>\n

\n Who pays tariffs: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that, through tariffs, \u201cWe got hundreds of billions of dollars just from China alone.\u201d US importers make the actual tariff payments, not China, and\u00a0study after study<\/a>\u00a0has found that Americans bore the overwhelming majority of the cost of Trump\u2019s tariffs on China.\n <\/p>\n

\n Previous presidents and tariffs on China: <\/strong>Trump repeated his false claim that no previous president had imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, saying<\/a>, \u201cNot one president charged China anything.\u201d The US was\u00a0generating billions per year in revenue from tariffs on Chinese imports before Trump took office<\/a>; in fact, the US has had tariffs on Chinese imports since 1789<\/a>. And while Trump specifically named President Barack Obama as a president who didn\u2019t \u201ccharge\u201d China, Obama imposed additional tariffs<\/a> on Chinese goods.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trade with the European Union: <\/strong>Trump falsely claimed<\/a> of the European Union: \u201cFarm products \u2013 you know, they don\u2019t want our farm \u2013 they don\u2019t want anything from us.\u201d The US exported more than $639 billion worth<\/a> of total goods and services to the European Union in 2023. The federal government says<\/a> the EU was the fifth-largest 2022 export market for US agricultural and related products, behind China, Canada, Mexico and Japan.\n <\/p>\n

\n The trade deficit with the European Union: <\/strong>Trump falsely claimed<\/a> the US has \u201ca trade deficit of $300 billion with the European Union\u201d; he then increased the figure<\/a> to \u201c$350 billion.\u201d The US goods and services trade deficit with the European Union was about $125 billion in 2023<\/a>. Even counting goods trade alone and excluding services, the 2023 deficit was about $201 billion.\n <\/p>\n

\n Venezuela and migration: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that Venezuela has emptied its prisons to send criminals to the US as migrants, then added in his recently introduced false claim<\/a> that \u201cthey load up the buses and they drive them into the United States, and they\u2019re dropping their prisoners into our country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Experts have told CNN<\/a>, PolitiFact<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0FactCheck.org<\/a>\u00a0that they know of no evidence that Venezuela has emptied prisons for migration purposes; Trump has never corroborated that claim, let alone his new claim about Venezuelan authorities somehow busing criminals into the US.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US and NATO: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that, until he became president, the US was \u201cspending almost 100% for NATO.\u201d Official\u00a0NATO figures show<\/a>\u00a0that in 2016, the last year before Trump took office, US defense spending made up about 71% of total defense spending by NATO members \u2013 a large majority, but not \u201calmost 100%.\u201d And Trump\u2019s claim is even more inaccurate if he was talking about the\u00a0direct contributions<\/a>\u00a0that cover NATO\u2019s organizational expenses, which are set based on each country\u2019s national income; the US was responsible for\u00a0about 22% of those contributions<\/a>\u00a0in 2016.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump and Nord Stream 2: <\/strong>Trump claimed<\/a> that, as president, \u201cThe first thing I did was terminated Nord Stream 2,\u201d a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Trump didn\u2019t terminate the pipeline, let alone do so as his first act in office. In reality, he signed sanctions related to the pipeline into law about three years into his presidency<\/a>, when the pipeline was already about 90% complete<\/a>. The state-owned Russian company behind the project\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0in December 2020, while Trump was still president, that construction was resuming.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition, Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that, before he opposed the project, \u201cNobody ever heard of Nord Stream 2.\u201d <\/strong>Nord Stream 2 was a regular subject of media, government and diplomatic discussion before Trump took office. In fact, Joe Biden\u00a0publicly criticized it as vice president in 2016<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump and ISIS: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that \u201cI knocked out ISIS in a matter of weeks; it was supposed to take four to five years, I did it in a matter of weeks.\u201d The ISIS \u201ccaliphate\u201d was declared fully liberated\u00a0more than two years<\/a>\u00a0into Trump\u2019s presidency.\n <\/p>\n

\n South Korea\u2019s payments for the US military presence<\/strong>: Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that before his presidency, South Korea paid \u201cnothing\u201d for the US military presence there. He claimed<\/a> that when he started trying to get South Korea to pay, the country responded, \u201cWe will not. We haven\u2019t paid since the Korean War.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n South Korea has been paying for the US military presence for decades<\/a>.\u00a0In 2014, more than two years before Trump took office, South Korea agreed to pay the US about $867 million that year<\/a> and then, through 2018<\/a>, to increase the payments annually based on the rate of inflation. The Congressional Research Service wrote<\/a> in a 2023 report: \u201cIn the past, South Korea generally paid for 40%-50% (over $800 million annually) of the total non-personnel costs of maintaining the U.S. troop presence in South Korea.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n US troops in South Korea: <\/strong>Trump falsely claimed<\/a>, as he has before, that the US has \u201c40,000 troops\u201d in South Korea.\n <\/p>\n

\n Pentagon statistics<\/a> <\/strong>show that Trump\u2019s figure is a significant exaggeration, whether he was talking about troop levels under Biden or the situation when he took office. As of June 30, 2024, there were 27,076 US military personnel in South Korea, including civilians working for the Department of Defense, according to those official statistics; as of December 31, 2016, less than a month before Trump took office, it was 26,878.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s negotiations with South Korea: <\/strong>Trump falsely claimed<\/a> that after demanding that South Korea pay $5 billion per year for the US military presence there, \u201cthey agreed to $2 (billion); I got $2 billion for nothing.\u201d In reality, the one-year deal to which South Korea agreed in 2019 was for roughly $925 million<\/a>, not $2 billion; Trump, who continued to make demands for far greater sums, was unable to secure<\/a> a longer-term deal while he was president.\n <\/p>\n

\n Biden\u2019s deal with South Korea: <\/strong>Trump repeated<\/a> his false claim that under Biden, South Korea is back to paying \u201cnothing\u201d for the US military presence, saying, \u201cBecause it went back to Biden and they gave it to them for nothing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In fact, South Korea agreed under Biden and Harris to pay more for the US military presence than it had been paying during the Trump era. Completing the negotiations that began under Trump, South Korea agreed in March 2021 to a 2021 payment increase of 13.9%<\/a> \u2014 meaning its payment that year would be about $1 billion \u2014 and then additional increases in 2022 through 2025 tied to increases in South Korea\u2019s defense budget.\n <\/p>\n

\n The two countries reached a tentative agreement early this month<\/a> for another deal covering the period from 2026 to 2030, which would begin with an 8.3% increase over the 2025 payment.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 When former President Donald Trump was challenged at a Tuesday event about the potential economic harms of his proposal for across-the-board tariffs on imported goods, Trump told what sounded like a tariff success story. He said that in response to his threat to impose hefty tariffs on John Deere if the storied<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump-election-news"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/c-gettyimages-2178578325.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nine9ja.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}