President Donald Trump has praised his economic achievements on social media and at events. Gathering at a Las Vegas Resort Wednesday. He touts the stock market’s recent record highs and claims that jobs, manufacturing and investment are booming. Some of the claims are clearly true, while others are exaggerated or unclear.
Voters are frustrated by the economy and the high cost of living ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections that will decide whether President Trump’s Republicans retain full control of Congress.
Only 32% of American adults approve of President Trump’s economic response. AP-NORC poll Held in late July. The same poll found that 69% of Americans characterized the economy as “poor.” groceries And gas was the “major” source of stress in their lives.
Let’s look at the facts here.
U.S. employment numbers continue to break records, but that’s not all
Trump: “More Americans are working in the United States today than at any point in our nation’s history.”
Fact: Yes, but this requires context. U.S. salaries continue to hit new highs as the economy adds jobs most months. Employment has increased in the United States in 65 of the past 80 years. U.S. employment in June was about 159 million people (not including farm workers). And that was actually a record. If Friday’s July jobs report shows further increases as expected, U.S. payrolls will reach yet another record high.
However, job growth slowed significantly during President Trump’s second term. Businesses, government agencies and nonprofits added just 9,700 jobs a month last year, the slowest job growth since 2002 outside of a recession. Since the beginning of this year, it has been creating 92,000 jobs a month, a significant improvement but not surprising by historical standards.
During President Joe Biden’s four years in office, employers added an average of nearly 329,000 jobs per month. These totals were inflated by a record hiring surge in 2021 and 2022 after the end of COVID-19 lockdowns. But even in the last two years of the Biden administration (2023 and 2024), job growth averaged 166,000 jobs per month.
High interest rates, President Trump’s own crackdown on immigration, and the continued retirement of baby boomers are contributing to the decline in job growth.
US stock market continues to set records
Trump: “In the short period since we came back, the stock market has hit record highs 74 times.”
Fact: It is unclear what specific stock market indicators President Trump is referring to. However, according to a tally by investment research firm CFRA, the S&P 500 index, the largest index of publicly traded companies in the United States, has broken new records 64 times since the start of President Trump’s second term in January 2025. This is the 74th record high since the 2024 presidential election.
US stocks soared to the latest record Earlier this week, was floating nearby It was the highest value since then. The rally is being driven by a surge in profits for S&P 500 companies, which are on course for their best quarterly profit growth since the second quarter of 2021.
Investors remain hopeful of President Trump’s recent assertion that a deal to resume oil development will be reached soon, with the recent drop in oil prices also providing a tailwind. Strait of Hormuzan important waterway for fuel flow. still, Commitments regarding Holmes’ future have previously been made clear. And uncertainty surrounding the war between the US and Iran is causing market instability. Beyond war, some of the biggest fluctuations were due to enthusiasm ( and skepticism ) around the value of artificial intelligence technology.
Manufacturing is showing improvement, but related employment is not as high.
Trump: “Manufacturing is booming! Factory activity is at its highest pace in more than four years, far exceeding expectations… American manufacturing is back!”
Fact: U.S. factories have certainly emerged from a long slump over the past few months, but they aren’t creating many jobs.
In comments on the Truth social platform on Tuesday, President Trump appeared to reference a report released the day before by the Supply Management Association, a trade group for purchasing managers. The research closely monitored by the institute showed that U.S. manufacturing activity expanded for seven months, reaching its highest level in July since May 2022.
The turnaround reverses a long losing streak, as U.S. manufacturing was weak in all but two months from November 2022 to December 2025, according to ISM research.
The massive tariffs, President Trump’s signature economic policy, are designed to pressure manufacturers to move production and factory jobs overseas to the United States. However, the increase in production has not led to an employment boom in manufacturing. In fact, there were 95,000 fewer U.S. factory jobs in June than there were before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
So far this year, U.S. manufacturing has added just 18,000 jobs, or 3,000 per month. Part of the problem is that today’s factories are automated and don’t require as many workers as they did during the heyday of American manufacturing in the ’60s and ’70s. President Trump’s tariffs are also hurting some manufacturers by raising the cost of imported steel, aluminum and other raw materials needed to make products.
Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the “reshoring” of U.S. manufacturing could eventually bring some factory jobs back to the U.S., but it’s “premature” to say that’s happening significantly now. He attributes much of the recent improvement in manufacturing to the AI investment boom.
The overall picture is mixed, but exports are increasing
Trump: Exports soar to ‘highest levels in U.S. history’, US “on track to export an unprecedented $2.5 trillion in goods this year alone, something no one thought possible.”
Fact: According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, seasonally adjusted exports of U.S. goods hit a record monthly high of more than $221.8 billion in April of this year. However, it has been on a slight decline since then.
U.S. merchandise exports totaled about $206.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, the most recent month for which data is available, according to the BEA. Additionally, U.S. exports of crude oil, gold, computers, and other goods all fell by billions of dollars. All the while, the value of goods the United States imports (about $388 billion in June) continues to far exceed the amount the country sends abroad.
That said, the value of U.S. exports will still be higher in mid-2026 than it was this time last year. Merchandise exports in 2025 reached a seasonally adjusted nearly $1.09 trillion by June, and ended the year at a record $2.19 trillion, according to the BEA. By comparison, exports of these products in the first half of 2026 currently amount to about $1.25 trillion, which would reach President Trump’s estimate of $2.5 trillion if this trend continues through the end of the year.
There are few facts to support President Trump’s claims about investments.
Trump: “With trillions of dollars in new investment flowing into the United States, more factories, more construction, and more good-paying jobs planned, the results will be impossible to hide.”
Fact: President Trump did not provide an exact dollar amount for his claimed investment surge in a Truth social post on Tuesday. But in May, he told a group of small business owners that the total was a staggering $18 trillion. He did not say exactly where his numbers came from. The White House website gives a lower figure of $10.7 trillion. This amount appears to be an inflated amount of some of the investment promises made during the Biden presidency.
Either way, this number seems incredible. Total private investment in the United States remained at an annual pace of $5.7 trillion from April to July of this year. And the BEA reported last month that foreign direct investment in the United States increased by $266 billion last year. Direct investment includes funds invested in factories, offices, etc., but does not include financial investments such as stocks and bonds.
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