Factchecking Trump’s inaugural address, from inflation to healthcare
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Following up on key claims made by 47th US president during his day one speech. Donald Trump repeatedly made false and misleading claims during his inaugural address. Here are the facts on some of the false claims offered during Trump’s speech. The claim: Trump pledged to take back the Panama Canal, while repeating a number of false claims including that 38,000 Americans died during the building of the canal. He also claimed that “China is operating” the canal.
The facts: The official death toll for the American construction effort behind the Panama Canal stands at about 5,600 people. Although the true number may be higher, the majority of deaths would have come from workers from Caribbean islands such as Antigua, Barbados and Jamaica.
The administrator of the Panama Canal has also denied Trump’s claim that China was controlling the canal’s operations. He has said that Chinese companies operating in the ports were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997, and US and Taiwanese companies are operating other ports along the canal as well.
The claim: Trump claimed that the US experienced “record inflation” that he said was caused by “massive overspending and escalating energy prices”. The facts: US inflation peaked at a four-decade high in summer 2022, when it was 9.1%. But the highest inflation rate in the country was 23.7% in June 1920.
