“We've secured commitments for $21 trillion in new investments from all over the planet, compared to less than $1 trillion in four years in the previous administration.”

This is the one figure in the series framed as commitments rather than money invested, and his own administration's tally of commitments was about half of it. A report nine days before the address put the White House tracker of commitments at $11.2 trillion, counting foreign commitments and planned spending by American companies together. Peterson Institute analysts found the Gulf state commitments within that tracker, nearly $4 trillion, strain credibility, so the official commitments figure is itself inflated. Measured expenditure was $232.2 billion by foreign direct investors in 2025, with planned total expenditures including future years at $284.5 billion.

The commitments framing is the claim's best defence. A commitment is a promise rather than a payment, and the Peterson Institute allows that durable gains are possible if the pledges materialise. It still does not reach $21 trillion on any tally, including the administration's own.