Washington (CNN) — Speaking to reporters Sunday on Air Force One, President Donald Trump defended his new global tariffs with a familiar series of false claims about tariffs and trade.
As he has before, Trump wildly exaggerated the US trade deficit with China — describing it as more than three times higher than it actually is. He repeated his frequent false claim that China paid the tariffs he imposed during his first presidency on imported Chinese products; these payments were made by US importers. And he once again falsely described trade with Europe, wrongly saying the continent doesn’t buy “anything” from the US. In reality, the European Union purchased about $649 billion worth of US exports in 2024.
Trump’s Sunday remarks also included inaccurate assertions about other subjects, but we’ll stick to tariffs and trade in this article. Here is a fact check.
The US trade deficit with China
Trump said Sunday that the US has a trade deficit with China of $1 trillion or more.
“We have a tremendous deficit problem with China. They have a surplus of at least a trillion dollars a year. I think it’s like a trillion-one,” he said.
As we’ve noted in previous fact checks, those numbers are not close to accurate. In fact, official federal statistics show the 2024 trade deficit with China in goods and services trade was about $263 billion. Even if you exclude the services trade, at which the US excels, and count only trade in goods, the 2024 deficit with China was about $295 billion.
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