China

Did the account of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. on X post a cartoon depicting U.S. President Donald Trump as having a tariff-related tantrum? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the account's entries did not include that image. Answering Lead Stories' questions, an embassy spokesperson denied that either its official account on X or any other account…

Did Dr. Anthony Fauci petition the State Department for an emergency travel visa to China so he can take up a position at the Wuhan Institute of Virology? No, that's not true: A Facebook post making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write on social media that he would increase tariffs on China for every 1,000 "likes" he gets? No, that's not true: The viral image of the supposed screenshot of his account was fake. The promise to increase levies on China based on likes did not appear on Trump's social media, as of this writing. The…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump post a meme of Winnie the Pooh on X to troll China's Xi Jinping in 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories manually reviewed Trump's account on X and did not find the image social media alleged he published. No credible media organization reported the purported news. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did President Donald Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro once attribute quotations to a supposed expert named "Ron Vara", who turned out to have been invented by Navarro himself? Yes, that's true: Navarro admitted in 2019 to having invented "Ron Vara", which is an anagram of "Navarro". He cited Vara's supposed opinions and quotations in several books dating back to 2001.…

Is there a real Wikipedia page titled "Great Leap Backward" describing the opening months of President Trump's second term? No, that's not true: A screenshot of such a page appears to have been created by digitally editing the page about China's "Great Leap Forward" during Chairman Mao's rule. Searches on Wikipedia and Google did not bring up such a page…

Is the pyramidal peak in Antarctica's Ellsworth Mountains the topic of an expert debate over whether it is a masonry pyramid constructed during Antarctica's last warm period, millions of years ago? No, that's not true: There is no credentialled scholar or explorer with on-the-ground knowledge making that case. The nameless mountain in Antarctica's Ellsworth Range sits in a well-studied range…

Was there credible information behind a tweeted report that President Donald Trump on April 7, 2025 was considering a 90-day pause in imposition of the worldwide tariffs he announced April 2? No, that's not true: The White House "rapid response" social media account called the claim "fake news" soon after its appearance had caused stock prices to briefly rise and…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write "I am ending all the tariffs today against China, Canada and Mexico" in an April 1, 2025, post on Truth Social? No, that's not true: A screenshot shared by users on other social media platforms was fake. Trump has marked April 2 as a day on which his administration will roll out new tariffs.…

Did The Washington Post publish a statement from President Donald Trump threatening sanctions against the government of Philippine President Bongbong Marcos over the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte? No, that's not true: No such report existed on the Washington Post's website at the time this was written and neither Trump nor the White House have made any statement…