Washington CNN —

President Donald Trump made only a smattering of false claims in his inaugural address on Monday, mostly sticking to vague rhetoric, subjective assertions and uncheckable promises of action.

But in an unscripted second speech on Monday, to supporters who had gathered in the US Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall, Trump returned to his typical pattern of rapid-fire lying – making false claims about elections, immigration and the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, among other subjects.

Here is a fact check of some of his claims.

Tariffs: In his inaugural address, Trump said, “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” But this description of tariffs is false. Tariffs imposed by the US government are paid by US importers, not foreign countries, and it’s easy to find specific examples of companies that passed along the cost of the tariffs to US consumers. Study after study, including one from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission, found that Americans bore almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products in his first term.

Additionally, Trump mentioned creating a new “External Revenue Service” to collect revenue from tariffs on imports, a plan he has mentioned before. Again, it is US importers, not foreign exporters, who pay tariffs on imported goods — and often pass some or all those costs to US consumers.

From CNN’s Bryan Mena...

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