By Our Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump dropped an $18 TRILLION cash bomb on the US political scene this week, publicly rubbishing rival Joe Biden’s economic record in a jaw-dropping boast about foreign investment.
Speaking at a major Saudi investment forum in Washington, the President claimed that under his watch, the US had pulled in commitments for a staggering $18 TRILLION in just nine months.
The mega-bucks, he claimed, were meant to fuel a renaissance in American factory building.
But in a furious political slap-down, he scoffed at the former administration’s efforts, claiming ‘4 years of Biden’ had managed to land only ‘$1 TRILLION’ in foreign investment for the US economy.
The Biden administration often touted its own $1 TRILLION-plus figure, insisting its policies—such as the Inflation Reduction Act—have unleashed a wave of private-sector investment into clean energy and high-tech manufacturing.
However, financial experts have poured cold water over the promises, highlighting the murky waters between a dramatic ‘pledge’ and cash actually materialising to build new factories.
The $18 TRILLION figure cited by Trump has been questioned by analysts, who suggest such colossal sums are often inflated, double-counted, or are little more than initial expressions of interest, rather than concrete, bank-transfer-ready deals.
“A dollar announced is not always equivalent to a dollar spent,” warned one financial commentator, noting that political instability makes foreign investors nervous about following through on massive, long-term commitments.
Real Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures—the actual cash flow that crosses borders—tends to run in the hundreds of billions annually, nowhere near the multi-trillion dollar sums being thrown around by the former President.
