Donald Trump, who was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, spoke digitally to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday of last week.
From January 20 to 24, hundreds of prominent public personalities, including numerous heads of state and government and international CEOs, convened in Davos, Switzerland, for the WEF’s 2025 annual conference. The event offers world leaders a rare chance to collaborate, share ideas, and look into ways to solve these difficult problems.
Collaboration for the Intelligent Age is the topic of this year’s WEF. In order to tackle pressing issues like the climate crisis, economic injustice, and geopolitical instability, the theme draws attention to the widening gaps in the international community and stresses the necessity of taking coordinated action.
Trump discussed his goals for the future of the United States and the state of the US economy during the previous government, among other international topics, during the occasion. In this fact-check, we examine some of his statements to verify their veracity and offer context.
CLAIM #1
In the last four years, the United States government has spent $8 trillion on unnecessary deficit expenditures.
The FactCheckHub’s findings indicate that the assertion is MOSTLY TRUE.
In November 2020, Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election and was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
The Bipartisan Policy Center’s statistics reveals that the budget deficits during the Biden administration were $2.8 trillion, $1.4 trillion, $1.7 trillion, $1.8 trillion, and $710 billion for FY 2021, FY 2022, FY 2023, FY 2024, and FY 2025 thus far. This is equivalent to $8.41 trillion.
We were unable to independently confirm whether or whether the deficit spending over the previous four years was wasteful, though.
THE CHOICE
Data that is readily available to the public supports the assertion that the US government spent $8 trillion on deficit spending in the recent past.
CLAIM 2: The present rate of inflation is 50% higher than the historical goal.
The results of The FactCheckHub’s checks indicate that the assertion is MOSTLY TRUE.
A long-term inflation target of 2 percent was set by the US Federal Reserve, the country’s central banking system. The goal of this target is to support both sustainable economic growth and price stability. The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) goal is to keep longer-term inflation expectations firmly anchored at 2% by aiming for inflation that averages 2% over time.
But according to the monthly consumer price index (CPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual inflation rate in the United States was 2.89 percent as of December 2024, up from 2.75 percent in November, which was 45 percent higher than the target. We cannot definitively ascertain the rate’s % as of right now because the January 2025 rate has not yet been released.
THE CHOICE
It is largely accurate to say that inflation is currently 50% higher than the historical target; research indicates that it is actually 45% higher.
CLAIM 3: On his first day as US president, Trump signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
The FactCheckHub’s findings indicate that the assertion is accurate.
According to the White House website’s list of presidential activities, one of the executive orders that Trump issued right after taking office on January 20, 2025, was to declare a national energy emergency. The United States’ ability to find, lease, develop, produce, transport, refine, and generate energy and essential minerals is not up to par with the country’s needs, he stated in the order.
Trump was quoted in a number of media reports from The Washington Post, Reuters, and The Guardian as stating that the past administration’s damaging and shortsighted policies were to blame for the country’s poor energy infrastructure and supply, which in turn exacerbates high energy prices that negatively affect Americans, particularly those with low and fixed incomes.
THE CHOICE
Based on the list of presidential activities and numerous media accounts, it is TRUE that Trump issued an executive order declaring a national energy emergency on his first day as US president.
CLAIM 4.
The world’s greatest oil and gas reserves are found in the United States.
THE FINDINGS According to The FactCheckHub, the allegation is untrue.
The US rose to the top of the world’s crude oil production rankings in 2018 and remained there until 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Different kinds of businesses contribute to the world’s crude oil supply, which is processed by U.S. oil refineries from both domestic and foreign sources.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the US is the world’s top producer of crude oil, with an average of around 13 million barrels per day in 2023, the highest level ever recorded, according to a 2024 Vox report.
The results of additional investigations showed that Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have larger oil reserves than the US. Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are the two nations with the largest oil reserves, with Nigeria coming in at number ten and the United States at number eleven.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Saudi Arabia’s proven crude oil reserves are estimated to be 267 billion barrels, which is a substantial amount more than the US’s about 36 billion barrels.
THE CHOICE
The assertion that the United States possesses the most oil and gas of any nation on the planet is untrue; although the United States is the world’s greatest producer of crude oil, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have larger oil reserves than the United States.
CLAIM 5 Over the past four years, the Biden administration has increased regulatory costs for the typical American household by $50,000.
THE FINDINGS The claim is half true, according to the FactCheckHub’s checks.
Although the Biden-Harris Administration had just four years to implement regulations, compared to Obama’s eight, the Biden-Harris Administration nearly doubled those costs, according to a report by the US House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
According to the report, the entire regulatory burden may reach $47,136 per American home, which detractors claim might have a detrimental effect on American households and the economy.
The severity of the rules under former President Biden was described in another piece by the City Journal. According to some calculations, Biden’s laws could cost a family $47,000 over the course of their lifetime.
The paper also raises concerns about the regressive nature of these restrictions, alleging that low-income households are disproportionately burdened with them. According to the report, after controlling for financial constraints, low-income families may have to pay seven times as much in regulatory fees than wealthy households.
According to the primary conclusions of another Unleash Prosperity analysis, the Biden-Harris administration is expected to impose net present value regulatory expenses per household of $47,000 from rules finalized during its first term.
THE CHOICE
While reports confirmed that the US administration in the immediate past did in fact impose additional regulatory costs, they also showed that the figure is approximately $47,000. Therefore, the claim that the Biden administration imposed $50,000 in additional regulatory costs on the average American household over the last four years is just half true. That is a discrepancy of around $3,000.
CLAIM (6)
Trump signs an executive order declaring that citizen speech would no longer be classified as disinformation or misleading, ending government censorship.
The FactCheckHub’s findings indicate that the assertion is accurate.
Donald Trump issued dozens of executive orders on the day of his ceremonial inauguration as the 47th president of the United States. These directives address recruiting government employees, commerce, immigration, civil rights, and U.S. overseas aid to promote demographic diversity.
Concerns have been raised by some of the executive orders, primarily online and among US citizens. For example, there have been public discussions about the decision to terminate birthright citizenship, particularly among the nation’s immigrants. Additionally, according to media sources, a US federal judge has stopped that specific order’s implementation.
In order to confirm the assertion, our fact-checkers looked at the White House website’s list of presidential actions signed by Trump and discovered that measures to stop government censorship were included.
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed 60 executive orders, including one titled “Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship.”
THE CHOICE
It is accurate to say that Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, directing the government to stop censoring citizen expression among other presidential acts.
CLAIM 7: The amount spent on defense by NATO was 2%.
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The FactCheckHub’s findings checks indicate that the assertion is accurate.
A military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 with the goals of promoting stability and security among its member nations as well as collective defense.
NATO was created to oppose the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but its mandate now encompasses a wider variety of security issues. From North America to Europe, as of January 2025, 32 nations are members of NATO. These nations are sovereign governments known as NATO Allies, and they use NATO to discuss political and security concerns and reach decisions as a group.
The money that a national government (apart from regional, local, and municipal governments) spends on defense is done so expressly to support its armed forces, as well as those of its Allies or the Alliance.
Our fact-checkers looked into the NATO Alliance report that was taken from its official website in order to confirm the assertion of the proportion that they send to the alliance. As of January 2025, it was found that the payment parameters for NATO allies have been jointly agreed upon since 2014 and are still set at 2% of the annual GDP of all member countries.
THE CHOICE
The assertion that NATO nations spend 2% of their yearly GDP on defense is accurate, according to data from the NATO website.
