President Donald Trump touted the economic achievements of his second term while giving a speech at a luncheon of CEOs during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Trump was the featured speaker at the event.
The president touted a record number of company investments in the U.S., citing $18 trillion as the total. He claimed it was much higher than his predecessor’s administration.
“In less than one year, we’ve secured commitments for over $18 trillion of new investments,” Trump said. “As an example, the previous administration, in four years, they did less than a trillion, I think much less actually. [They] hurt our country very badly, who would’ve known?”
He also predicted an optimistic forecast for future investments into the U.S., predicting up to another $4 trillion by the end of 2025. Trump also promoted the booming stock market, which, he claimed, has set multiple “all-time highs” records during his second term.
“I figure that we’ll probably be at 20 or 21, maybe even 22 trillion dollars of investments coming into our country by the end of the first year of my second term,” Trump said. “We had a tremendously successful first term. We had the strongest economy in history for our country, strongest we ever had. But this is, I think, blowing it away.”
“We have great policy,” he added. “We have some very good things happening. The stock market, as you know, set 45 all-time highs … in a period of nine months, breaking new records week after week, including one just yesterday. We set the record GDP growth in the second quarter.”
He then stated he believed the U.S. was in the midst of an “economic revolution” and cited GDP numbers. He then predicted future GDP growth exceeding 4%. He also mentioned that the U.S. car industry was “back” and that, after discussions with Toyota during his visit to Japan yesterday, the car company would be spending billions to build new car plants in the U.S.
“I think we’re in an economic revolution in America,” Trump said. “We went at 3.8%, we’re up 3.8% GDP, triple and even quadruple the rate that a lot of people thought would be. They thought that during this period that we’d be at a much lower rate. Some people predicted 1, 1.5, we’re going to be very close to 4[%]. The next quarter, we’re expected to be at about 4% growth, and after that, I can’t even predict, because when all of these factories that are moving in, the car plants are moving in.”
“Yesterday, I was with Mr. Toyota in Japan, and he’s just announced … they are going to spend $10 billion,” he added. “They’re going to build new car plants, and they’re going to build them in numerous states, in about 6 or 7 different states. And we’re bringing our car industry back.”
Trump then rattled off a list of economic accomplishments that have supposedly occurred since the start of his second term, before pivoting to criticisms of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“In nine months, we lifted over 600,000 Americans off food stamps, wages for workers are rising at the fastest pace in more than 60 years,” Trump said. “Meanwhile, energy prices are down, gasoline prices are down, grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, despite the fact that we have an incompetent head of the Fed.”
“He’s incompetent, I call him Jerome ‘too late’ Powell. He’s always too late,” Trump said to laughter from the audience.
“But he’s out of there in another couple months,” Trump said. “We’ll be very happy about that. We’ll appoint somebody that we all like because we should have the lowest interest rates of any country. Because without us, there are no other countries, really. I mean, the whole thing falls apart. America always had the lowest rates, and now we don’t do that. We’re like 28, it’s ridiculous.”