Donald Trump Makes Disputed Claims at NATO Summit in Ankara

During a NATO summit in Ankara, Donald Trump made a sequence of contested claims regarding the U.S. economy, foreign policy, and election history. In a Tuesday meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a subsequent Wednesday press conference, Trump alleged that $19.2 trillion had been invested in U.S. plants and equipment during his current term. Critics and federal data contradict this figure, noting that such an amount would represent 60% of the total GDP and that manufacturing construction spending has actually declined since 2024.

Trump further asserted that he had settled eight wars and that Greenland is currently surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships. He reiterated a desire for the U.S. to control the territory. On immigration and domestic politics, Trump claimed that 25 million people crossed the border during the Joe Biden administration and alleged that Nicolás Maduro emptied Venezuelan prisons to send migrants to the U.S., though the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence found no evidence for the latter.

Additional claims included an assertion that he won three elections and that the 2020 election was rigged. Regarding international tensions, Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran to be over following a fresh exchange of attacks and rising oil prices. He also claimed that the Biden administration provided Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars in equipment, a figure that fact checkers state is significantly lower than reported.