United States President Donald Trump has made a range of claims about the state of the US economy.In a long and meandering address to the media on Tuesday, the first year anniversary of his second term as president, Trump’s claims ranged from there being “no inflation” in the US to drug prices being slashed by as much as 600 percent. Most claims were factually inaccurate.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listAl Jazeera examined some of his statements on the economy:Core inflation has been at 1.6 percent for the past three months, and there is “no inflation”.Both claims are false. Core inflation in November and December stood at 2.6 percent year over year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).A core consumer price index (CPI) report was not released for the month before due to the federal government shutdown, the longest in US history.Overall, inflation rose by 2.7 percent compared with the same period last year.Drug prices under Trump’s “most favored nation” programme are down by “300, 400, 500, 600 percent”.This is incorrect. While the programme is intended to lower drug prices, reductions beyond 100 percent are mathematically impossible.A 100 percent price reduction would mean a product is free. Anything beyond that would require pharmaceutical companies to pay consumers to take their products.Pending Supreme Court ruling on tariffs:Trump addressed a pending Supreme Court case that will rule on the legality of his use of the …
