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** Why the U.S. Imports Oil and Lumber
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In making the case for new tariffs on U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump argued that the U.S. doesn’t “need the products that they have,” specifically mentioning crude oil and lumber from those countries.

“We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber,” he told reporters on Jan. 30, two days before he announced, and then paused, the new tariffs on imports from those countries. “We have more than almost anybody in those two categories, and oil we have more than anybody and we don’t need anybody’s trees.”

Staff Writer D’Angelo Gore consulted experts who said that, in theory, the U.S. could meet domestic demand with its own oil and lumber resources. But the reality is quite different. It would take time and money to make such a transition, among other factors.

D’Angelo wrote: “On paper, it may appear that the U.S. does not need imports of oil from Canada or Mexico. But the imports are of heavier crude oil than what the U.S. mostly extracts.”

Many U.S. refineries – built decades ago, before the U.S. “shale boom” – are configured to process the heavier crude oils. That’s why the U.S. also exports some of its lighter crude oil that other countries’ refineries are better configured to handle.

“The U.S. could, if necessary, become self-sufficient,” David Gantz, a fellow in trade and international economics at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told D’Angelo. However, he said “it would require significant and expensive modifications” to U.S. refineries.

Lumber has a similar story.

“Sure: we could probably meet most of our lumber needs domestically,” Marc McDill, an associate professor of forest management at Penn State University, told D’Angelo. “The reasons why we don’t basically boil down to two things: 1) sometimes imports are cheaper than our own suppliers, and 2) we value our forests for a lot of other things besides producing lumber.”

The U.S. would need new logging capacity, and Canada also has different types of lumber that builders may prefer for certain projects.

For more, see D’Angelo’s story: “Trump on U.S. Imports of Oil and Lumber ([link removed]) .”

HOW WE KNOW
To calculate how much money the government spent on subscriptions to Politico Pro and other news services, we searched USA Spending ([link removed]) , a U.S. government website that tracks federal spending. We found $10.2 million in contracts for Politico during Trump’s first term and $22.8 million during President Joe Biden's term. We also found just $44,000 in payments in 2023-2024 specifically from USAID, contrary to social media claims that Politico was “completely” or “massively funded” by the agency. Read more: "Trump, Online Posts Misrepresent Government Subscriptions to News Services ([link removed]) ."
FEATURED FACTS
Test scores from the Program for International Student Assessment show that U.S. 15-year-olds scored above average among the 36 other OECD countries in reading and science (subjects in which the U.S. ranked 6th and 12th, respectively). The average U.S. score in math was lower, but not significantly, than the OECD average. The U.S. ranking in math was 28th. Those statistics are from 2022, the latest results available. In other international assessments, U.S. elementary students scored above average in those subjects. Read more: “Trump Wrong About U.S. Rank in Education Spending and Outcomes ([link removed]) .”
WORTHY OF NOTE

We publish quarterly financial reports on who funds us, and we recently posted the breakdown for the second quarter of our 2025 fiscal year (the three months ending December 31, 2024):

APPC Endowment: $324,643
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During this three-month period, we received a total of 654 gifts from individual donors, and the largest single donation was $10,000. The average individual donation was $137.58, and more than half of our individual donations were $25 or less. We very much appreciate that generous support from our individual readers.

We also received $74,200 from Meta as part of a fact-checking project to debunk social media misinformation, and $22,963 from Google and YouTube for a grant administered by the International Fact-Checking Network. The IFCN-administered grant funds our project to increase engagement and grow our audience on social media.

Our policy is to disclose the identity of any donor who contributes $1,000 or more. That list is available on our website ([link removed]) , along with past financial reports.

If you'd like to donate to FactCheck.org, you can make a one-time or monthly recurring donation here ([link removed]) . Thank you so much for your support.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* Musk Misleads on FEMA’s Migrant-Related Payments to New York City ([link removed]) : This week, New York City officials said the city had received two payments from the federal government as reimbursement for expenses the city incurred while providing services to migrants who arrived in New York, including $19 million for hotel expenses. But Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, claimed, without evidence, that $59 million “meant for American disaster relief” was sent to “luxury hotels.”

* Sorting Out the Facts on ‘Waste and Abuse’ at USAID ([link removed]) : As President Donald Trump’s administration targets the U.S. Agency for International Development for closure or major downsizing, the White House and social media posts have highlighted four projects as examples of the agency’s “waste and abuse.” But only one was funded by USAID.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* Verificación de otras afirmaciones sobre salud hechas por RFK Jr. durante las audiencias de confirmación para el HHS ([link removed]) : Aquí explicamos los hechos detrás de varias afirmaciones más de Robert F. Kennedy Jr. durante sus dos audiencias en el Senado como candidato a secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos.

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