Tariffs

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.…

Did Senator Rand Paul call U.S. President Donald Trump "a tyrant" while speaking in Congress on April 2, 2025? No, that's not true: As the full recording of the speech shows, Paul did not even use the word "tyrant" on that occasion. His single reference to tyranny concerned a broad historical context that predated Trump's birth by centuries. The claim…

Did President Donald Trump sell $2.3 billion of his Truth Social stock a day before he announced new tariffs? No, that's not true: Trump cannot yet sell his shares in Trump Media and Technology Group Corp., the company that owns the Truth Social platform, according to SEC filings. The company issued a statement saying the claim was a false interpretation…

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 "No crying in the casino" in a Truth Social post on April 7, 2025? No, that's true: A fake screenshot purporting to show such a post was the result of digital editing. The fake post was shared widely amid stock market turmoil in response to the Trump administration's implementation of tariffs in April 2025.…

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 Warren Buffett say President Trump is making the best financial decisions in 50 years? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Buffet praised Trump saying he was making stellar financial decisions in March 2025. Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway put out a statement saying any reports on social media about comments he made are "false". Buffett did blast…

Did President Donald Trump post he would impose capital controls because "TERRIBLE things" were happening to "our BEAUTIFUL AND GREAT STOCK MARKET" and that he would put a tariff on "foreign selling"? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot of what looked like a Truth Social post has been digitally manipulated. Trump's actual account did not show such a message…

Does a viral video show Mexico closing the U.S. border in response to President Trump's announcement about imposing tariffs on March 3, 2025? No, that's not true: The video predated the announcement by several days. The gate closure seen in the video happened during a protest against security-related delays on the Mexican side of the crossing. At the time of…