“We have secured commitments for more than $18 trillion in new investment in the U.S.”

The $18 trillion figure is roughly double the White House's own published total. About four weeks after the op-ed, the administration's own investment list totaled about $9.7 trillion, and CNN's fact check of the Wall Street Journal op-ed found the op-ed 'littered with false and misleading claims,' the $18 trillion among them.

Even the White House's own list counts things that are not U.S. investment: an annual Japanese purchase of U.S. liquefied natural gas by JERA ($200 billion), 'mutual trade expansion' with India ($500 billion), and McDonald's hiring, listed in jobs as 'workforce expansion.' Measured investment was far smaller. The Bureau of Economic Analysis put new foreign direct investment in the U.S. at $232.2 billion in 2025, with planned total expenditures including future years at $284.5 billion. That was up 49.5 percent from 2024, a real increase, but a small fraction of $18 trillion.

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