3/12/2018

COMMERCE/NONTRUTHS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump held a rally at Pittsburgh’s airport on Saturday [3-11-18] evening to try to shore up support for Rick Saccone, the Republican on the ballot in a special election on Tuesday to fill a House seat representing a conservative western Pennsylvania district.
But he spent most of his 75-minute speech veering into other topics, including foreign policy, trade and the economy. In doing so, he made a number of false or misleading claims, including some The New York Times has previously checked…
‘We have a trade deficit of almost $800 billion a year.’
Misleading.
A White House spokesman has previously told The Times that the $800 billion figure regularly cited by Mr. Trump refers to the trade deficit in goods. The Commerce Department reported an $810 billion deficit in goods in 2017, but a total trade deficit of $566 billion when the trade surplus in services is included.”

-Justin Bank, “Six Claims Trump Made at His Weekend Rally That Were False or Lacked Context,” The New York Times online, Mar. 12, 2018