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On Mr. Trump saying that the United States should have taken Iraq’s oil.
It is an assertion that he made a few weeks ago, and one that was roundly criticized at the time. Seizing Iraq’s oil — or the resources of any country — is illegal under international law, and doing so would have likely prompted condemnation from around the world. In purely practical terms, seizing Iraq’s oil would have required tens of thousands of American troops to protect Iraq’s oil infrastructure, which is spread out across the country and largely above ground. It also is probably safe to assume that Iraqis themselves would have objected to their country’s main source of wealth being used to enrich another country.
—Matthew Rosenberg
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On Mr. Trump’s accusation that the withdrawal of troops left a vacuum in Iraq and Syria, which allowed the Islamic State to take root.
In fact, Mrs. Clinton advocated arming moderate rebels in Syria and said afterward that Mr. Obama’s refusal to do so may have left a vacuum there. She also privately backed a Pentagon proposal to leave a larger residual force in Iraq than the administration ended up leaving.
—Mark Landler
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On Mr. Trump’s assertion that many NATO countries do not contribute their full share to NATO.
Mr. Trump was correct in asserting that many NATO countries do not contribute their full share to NATO — a complaint that Mr. Obama and a former secretary of defense, Robert Gates, have also voiced. But he was wrong about NATO failing to fight terrorism. NATO was in Afghanistan starting in 2003 — part of the battle against Al Qaeda.
—David E. Sanger
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On Mr. Trump’s opposition to the Iraq war.
Mr. Trump said he opposed the war in Iraq before it began. But during the buildup to the war, he expressed his support in an interview with Howard Stern, according to audio unearthed by BuzzFeed.
—Steve Eder
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On Mrs. Clinton’s assertion that the United States needs an “intelligence surge” to help prevent terrorist attacks by homegrown violent extremists.
The United States already collects and shares more intelligence than ever. The F.B.I. has been successful in arresting suspects who are in contact with terrorist figures overseas. The greater challenge for law enforcement today is often that homegrown terrorists commit no crime until an attack. And the F.B.I. is not allowed to conduct open-ended investigations without evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Nor is it allowed to collect intelligence solely related to people’s views. Admiring Osama bin Laden or the Islamic State or expressing hatred for the United States is not a crime.
—Matt Apuzzo
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On Mr. Trump’s claim that the United States is “not updating” its nuclear arsenal and the Iran nuclear deal.
Mr. Trump is wrong. The United States has a major nuclear modernization program underway, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars. On the Iran nuclear deal, he complained that the United States paid $1.7 billion in cash to Iran. It did. But it was Iran’s money, for military goods never delivered to Iran after the Iranian Revolution. (The principal was $400 million; the remaining $1.3 billion was interest owed in the ensuing three decades.)
—David E. Sanger
Economy
On Mr. Trump saying that China is “devaluing their currency” to gain an economic advantage.
This is an outdated accusation. Countries that hold down the value of their currency can sell goods in other countries more cheaply. And many economists see evidence that China suppressed the value of its currency for years, contributing to its rise as an industrial power. But in recent years, China has sought to stabilize and even increase the value of its currency, part of a broader shift in its economic policies. There is no evidence that China is presently engaging in currency devaluation.
—Binyamin Appelbaum
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On Mr. Trump’s claim that Ford is leaving the United States and taking “thousands of jobs” with it.
Mr. Trump described a dire situation for the United States’ industrial economy, saying that “Ford is leaving,” referring to the auto giant, and that “thousands of jobs are leaving Michigan, leaving Ohio. They’re all leaving.”
Ford is moving its manufacturing of many smaller cars to Mexico, but has said that the move will not result in job losses in the United States.
Ohio and Michigan have, indeed, suffered major manufacturing job losses over the past generation. But in the past year, Ohio has gained 78,300 jobs, and Michigan has gained 75,800 jobs. In August, the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in Michigan and 4.7 percent in Ohio, both in line with the national rate.
—Neil Irwin
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Mrs. Clinton on Mr. Trump’s tax plan:
Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Trump’s tax plan would increase the federal debt by “over $5 trillion,” and that it would penalize middle-income families.
The conservative Tax Foundation estimates that Mr. Trump’s plan would cost a minimum of $4.4 trillion. A liberal group, Citizens for Tax Justice, pegs the minimum cost at $4.8 trillion. But the final bill could be significantly greater. Mr. Trump has offered multiple versions of some elements of his plan. A tax break for small businesses, in particular, could add more than $1 trillion to the final bill.
The Trump campaign, however, insists that the final cost would be just $2.6 trillion. This is based on a stripped-down version of Mr. Trump’s plan — one that is inconsistent with his campaign’s public promises. It also assumes that lower tax rates would encourage much stronger economic growth, reducing the cost.
Would it hurt the middle class? Mr. Trump’s plan would reduce the average tax burden for low-income, middle-income and upper-income households — but it would not cut everyone’s taxes. Indeed, a new analysis finds roughly 7.8 million families with children would pay higher taxes under Mr. Trump’s plan.
—Binyamin Appelbaum
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On Mr. Trump and NAFTA:
Mr. Trump said that the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, “is the worst trade deal” in American history, and possibly in world history.
More than 20 years after its passage, NAFTA remains a political lightning rod. But the evidence suggests it wasn’t a big deal in economic terms. Indeed, the Congressional Research Service concluded in 2015 that the “net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest.” The reason: Trade with Canada and Mexico comprises a small portion of American economic activity.
—Binyamin Appelbaum
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On Mr. Trump’s claim that “we have a trade deficit of almost $800 billion a year,” blaming trade deals for this.
He has the number wrong. The United States trade deficit was about $500 billion in 2015, and is on track for a similar number this year. He is likely referring to the trade deficit in goods, which was $762 billion last year. But that was counteracted by a $262 billion surplus in services.
In other words, while the United States imports more physical goods than it exports, it exports more services, including things like financial services, tourism, and software.
—Neil Irwin
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On Mr. Trump and the Federal Reserve.
Mr. Trump said the Federal Reserve is “doing political things” by holding interest rates at a low level. He charged that the Fed would raise rates as soon as Mr. Obama left office.
This is a baseless accusation. The Fed has held borrowing costs at historically low levels since the financial crisis to encourage economic growth. Some Fed officials would like to raise rates slightly. Some want to wait a little longer. But Fed officials are uniform in dismissing the idea that politics is playing a role in this debate, and outside experts see no evidence that the Fed is misleading the public.
In attacking the Fed, Mr. Trump is plowing across a line that presidential candidates and presidents have observed for the past several decades. There has been a bipartisan consensus that central banks operate most effectively when they are shielded from short-term political pressures. Indeed, President Richard M. Nixon’s insistence that the Fed should not raise rates in the early 1970s played a role in unleashing a long era of inflation — and in convincing his successors that it was better to leave the Fed to its technocratic devices.
—Binyamin Appelbaum
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On Mrs. Clinton’s changing position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Mrs. Clinton said she had “hoped it would be a good deal” but that when it was negotiated, she did not agree with the terms. In fact, Mrs. Clinton spoke out more than 40 times in favor of the trade deal, saying it would be a “strategic initiative that would strengthen the position of the United States in Asia,” without making her support contingent on how it would turn out.
—Mark Landler
Energy and the Environment
On Mrs. Clinton’s accusation that Mr. Trump said climate change was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.
Mr. Trump responded, “I do not say that.”
But in 2012, Mr. Trump tweeted, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing noncompetitive.” Over the past year, Mr. Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax, and said that he is “not a believer” in the established science of human-caused climate change.
—Coral Davenport
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