Earlier this month, Donald Trump spoke with CNBC about his administration’s trade policies, and he became especially animated about a specific part of an agreement between the United States and the European Union: $600 billion the E.U. had agreed to give him as a “gift.”
“That’s a gift,” the Republican president claimed. “That’s not like, you know, a loan, by the way. That’s not a loan that, ‘Oh, gee, three years comes up. We have to pay it back.’ There’s nothing to pay back. They gave us $600 billion that we can invest in anything we want.” Asked about the details, Trump went on to argue: “There are no details. The details are $600 billion to invest in anything I want. Anything. I can do anything I want.”
At the time, the claim appeared bizarre, but since the White House hadn’t presented the public with any details about the trade deal, it was difficult to say with certainty exactly what he was talking about, and the degree to which it was true (or not).
Two weeks later, officials finally shared some substantive information about the agreement’s framework, and wouldn’t you know it, Trump’s boast isn’t holding up especially well. From the White House’s official summary:
The United States and the European Union share one of the world’s largest economic relationships, supported by mutual investment stocks exceeding $5 trillion, and intend to promote and facilitate mutual investments on both sides of the Atlantic. In this context, European companies are expected to invest an additional $600 billion across strategic sectors in the United States through 2028. There’s a big gap between “expectations” about European companies’ future investments and a $600 billion “gift” that Trump “can do anything” he pleases with. Asked about the obvious difference between Trump’s public description of the $600 billion and what the official document about the trade deal reflects, a White House spokesperson told CNN that this was “pointless nitpicking.” I can appreciate the White House’s challenge. The president made an outlandish boast, and two weeks later the boast fall apart. But to care about reality isn’t just “pointless nitpicking,” especially when we’re talking about $600 billion.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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