US President Donald Trump delivered the longest address to Congress in modern history, speaking for one hour and 47 minutes while declaring that the "country is winning again".
But the 107-minute-long speech also included a series of claims that were exaggerated, misleading or unsupported by available evidence, a trademark of Trump's addresses.
While many of them were familiar claims proven false before, including the one about him ending eight wars, there were some which were fresh off the mill.
Here are some of the false claims made by the president during his address:
Inflation
"The Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country, but in 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years, and in the last three months of 2025, it was down to 1.7%."
Inflation has indeed cooled in recent months, but the claim that the United States experienced the worst inflation in its history under President Joe Biden is incorrect.
The annual inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent in June 2022, following global price shocks triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, this was far below the all-time US inflation peak of 23.7 per centrecorded in 1920.
By December 2024, Biden's final full month in office, inflation had already fallen to 2.9 per cent, and stood at 3.0 per cent when Trump took office in January 2025. The most recent figure, for January 2026, is 2.4 per cent.
$18 Trillion Investment Claim
"In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe."
There is no publicly available evidence supporting this figure.
A White House tracker measuring new investment commitments in manufacturing, technology and infrastructure lists total pledges at $9.7 trillion, a substantial amount but significantly lower than the president's claim.
Analysts have also pointed out that the tracker includes pledges that may never materialise. Some agreements, including a proposed EU trade deal, have stalled amid ongoing tariff disputes.
Crime And Immigration: The Charlotte Case
"She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal set free to kill in America, who came in through open borders."
Trump referred to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, but incorrectly said that the accused attacker was an immigrant.
Available evidence shows that DeCarlos Brown Jr, the man charged with first-degree murder, is American-born. Local reporting identified him as a Charlotte native, and interviews with his family confirmed this.
Trump has frequently argued that immigrants drive violent crime. However, available data indicate that US-born citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes compared with undocumented immigrants.
Who Actually Pays Tariffs?
"The tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will... substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax."
Tariffs are not paid directly by foreign governments. They are collected from US importers, who often pass some of the added costs to consumers through higher prices. Experts suggest the majority of the financial burden falls domestically. An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote, "We find that nearly 90 per cent of the tariffs' economic burden fell on US firms and consumers."
Similarly, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that tariffs raise consumer prices because most costs are absorbed within the United States economy.
'Rampant' Election Fraud
"The cheating is rampant in our elections. It's rampant."
There is no evidence supporting claims of widespread voter fraud in US elections. Voting by non-citizens in federal elections is already illegal and has been documented only in extremely small numbers.
A database maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation records 1,620 proven cases of election fraud nationwide since 1982, a tiny fraction compared with the billions of ballots cast over that period.
