Former President Donald Trump was responsible for many more whoppers in his recent G7 summit address. He zeroed in on U.S. aid to Ukraine, mounting immigration to the U.S., and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s under-appreciated role in stabilizing international relations.
During his speech Trump wrongly accused President Joe Biden of “stealing” “$350 billion” in aid to Ukraine. So far, the U.S. government has pledged nearly $185 billion in assistance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This new funding will allow work to continue through March 2025. To date, we’ve allocated only around $90 billion of this total. This covers all the funds expended within the U.S., as well as all forms of assistance sent to a variety of countries—not just Ukraine.
The former president touched upon immigration issues, stating, “Biden allowed 21 million people to come into our country.” According to government statistics, there were less than 11 million total encounters across the country under the Biden administration up through December 2024. Trump’s number is wildly out of whack and does not represent reality on the ground.
Trump’s comments did not end there, he made false assertions about Trudeau’s power in international affairs. He asserted that Trudeau had played a pivotal role in removing Russia from the Group of 8, stating, “He was thrown out – by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people, along with Obama.” For many reasons, this claim is highly misleading. After Russia annexed Crimea, the country was stripped of its membership from the Group of 8. By then, Trudeau had only just taken office himself; he became Canada’s Prime Minister in November 2015. The previous effort to suspend Russia from the group was spearheaded by the same man, Trudeau’s Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper.
