Trump live updates: President claims he’s ‘defeated’ inflation and boasts about seizing Venezuela’s oil in Detroit economic speech

In a memorable moment during today’s speech, the president asserted, without evidence, that he could balance the U.S. budget by targeting fraud in Democratic-led states.

In the unsubstantiated claim, the president insisted that by getting rid of welfare fraud in those states, the U.S. could balance its budget – even though it was estimated to be a staggering $1.7 trillion in 2025.

While the U.S. deals with fraud, the highest amount the Government Accountability Office has estimated is $521 billion, well below the trillions of dollars in the U.S. deficit.

After speaking for approximately one hour, Trump ended his remarks.

The president touched on the economy and auto manufacturing jobs, but also boasted about the U.S. foreign intervention in Venezuela and Iran, defended the administration’s mass deportation agenda and more.

As usual, the president ended his remarks by doing a little dance to the Y.M.C.A.

The president’s speech at the Detroit Economic Club is wide-ranging. Trump appears to be using it to give a familiar campaign stump speech about reducing immigration, adopting an aggressive foreign policy, complaining about lost elections, targeting his enemies and squashing his predecessor.

At one point, Trump dedicated several minutes to attacking Somali-Americans or Somali immigrants, making sweeping, generalized statements about the community committing fraud.

The president falsely characterized all Somalis as fraudsters who come to the United States seeking to take advantage of welfare programs. He promised to denaturalize those accused of fraud.

“All they have is murder and robbing, ships bringing in pirates,” Trump said of Somalia.

The president also attacked Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, calling her bad for the country.

Trump said he would announce policies later this week about healthcare affordability that will “reduce premiums for millions.”

That may include lower drug prices, increasing price transparency and accountability to insurance companies.

Trump reiterated that he will announce new policies on housing affordability at the World Economic Forum at Davos next week.

“In the coming weeks, I will be laying out even more plans to help bring back affordability. And again, remember, that’s a fake word by Democrats,” Trump said

All day, Trump has been lashing out at Federal Reserve Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates at a speed and volume that he wants.

In his speech, the president attributed stock market dips, even after good economic news, to investors’ fear that the Fed will raise interest rates. That pattern does occur, but many economists claim it’s justified. “

“You announce unbelievable numbers, and the market goes down,” Trump said.

“We have a real stiff in the Fed, but that’s for another day.”

The president has dedicated several minutes to defending his “favorite word:” tariffs.

As expected, Trump is brushing off criticisms of his sweeping tariffs, which sent global markets into a tailspin when he unveiled them in April. He denied that consumers are paying the price for tariffs – despite economists across the political spectrum agreeing that consumers pay the extra cost.

Trump stressed the importance of tariffs, for economic and national security reasons, a claim that comes as the Supreme Court is weighing whether to allow the president to inact the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

President Donald Trump began his speech by bragging about the strength of the U.S. economy under his administration – claiming inflation was “defeated,” and growth was booming.

As usual, the president insulted his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and compared the current state of the U.S. to 2024.

Trump said his White House takeover had led to the “Strongest and fastest economic turnaround in our country.”

According to Tuesday morning’s CPI, inflation remained steady in December at 2.7 percent, which was consistent with inflation numbers in November.