Trump’s State of the Union: Controversial Assertions on Inflation and Crime
The 107-minute address also featured multiple statements that were exaggerated, misleading, or lacked sufficient supporting evidence.
US President Donald Trump delivered the longest speech to Congress in modern history, speaking for one hour and 47 minutes, declaring that “the country is winning again.”
But the 107-minute speech also included numerous exaggerated, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims, a hallmark of Trump’s speeches.
While many of them were well-known claims that had previously been proven false, including the claim that he had ended eight wars, some were also newly discovered.
Here are some of the false claims made during the president’s speech:
Inflation
“The Biden Administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in our nation’s history. But in the past 12 months, my administration has reduced core inflation to its lowest level in more than five years, and in the last three months of 2025, it fell to 1.7%.”
While inflation has certainly declined in recent months, the claim that the United States has experienced the worst inflation in its history under President Joe Biden is false.
Following a global price shock from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, annual inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. However, this was well below the highest US inflation peak of 23.7%, recorded in 1920.
By December 2024, Joe Biden’s last full month in office, inflation had already fallen to 2.9%, and it was 3.0% when Trump took office in January 2025. The latest figure for January 2026 is 2.4%.
$18 Trillion Investment Claim
“In 12 months, I secured commitments of over $18 trillion from around the world.”
There is no publicly available evidence to support this figure.
A White House tracker measuring new investment commitments in manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure lists a total of $9.7 trillion in pledges, a significant amount but far less than the president’s claims.
Analysts also point out that the tracker includes promises that may never be fulfilled. Some agreements, including a proposed EU trade deal, have stalled due to ongoing tariff disputes.
Crime and Immigration: The Charlotte Case
“She escaped a brutal war but was killed by a vicious criminal who came across open borders, free to kill in America.”
Trump mentioned the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, but incorrectly stated that the accused attacker was an immigrant.
Available evidence suggests that DeCarlos Brown Jr., the man charged with first-degree murder, was born in the United States. Local reporting revealed he was from Charlotte, and interviews with his family confirmed this.
Trump has often argued that immigrants fuel violent crime. However, available data shows that US-born citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes as undocumented immigrants.
Who actually pays the tariffs?
“Tariffs paid by foreign countries… would replace the current income tax system.”
Foreign governments do not pay tariffs directly. They are collected from US importers, who often pass some of the extra cost on to consumers through higher prices. Experts say that most of the financial burden falls within the country. An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York stated, “We found that approximately 90 percent of the economic burden of tariffs fell on US firms and consumers.”
Similarly, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that tariffs increase consumer prices because most of the costs are absorbed into the United States economy.
“Widespread” Election Fraud
“Fraud in our elections is widespread. It is very significant.”
There is no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud in US elections. Voting by non-citizens in federal elections is already illegal and has been documented in very small numbers.
A database maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation lists 1,620 proven cases of election fraud nationwide since 1982, a tiny fraction compared to the billions of votes cast during that time.
