Piero Cingari
3 min read
In This Article:
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
President Donald Trump has touted multi-trillion-dollar investment commitments as proof that his economic strategy is delivering a historic revival of American manufacturing and infrastructure.
Yet, behind the massive figures, new analysis from Goldman Sachs suggests the actual economic impact could be far more modest.
Foreign governments and corporations have pledged over $6 trillion in U.S. investments, including $2 trillion from companies and $4.2 trillion from foreign governments, according to Goldman Sachs economist Joseph Briggs.
Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — you can become an investor for $0.80 per share today.
Just a week ago, President Trump secured $2 trillion in investment commitments from Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Japan pledged $1 trillion.
Among the companies making the largest pledges, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced $787 billion, followed by International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) with $409 billion, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) with $302 billion, and Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) with $35 billion.
"We expect the impact on U.S. investment to be smaller than suggested by these promises for three reasons," Briggs said in a report, highlighting project uncertainty, limited alignment with national accounts definitions, and overlap with prior plans.
After analyzing the announcements and stripping out less tangible commitments—like purchases of goods, partnerships, and reannounced projects—Goldman estimates that only $135 billion in new annual investment is directly tied to GDP-relevant projects like physical capital expenditures and R&D.
Applying historical realization rates and analyst feedback, the bank sees the likely net impact closer to $30 billion per year, or just 0.1% of U.S. GDP.
That figure starkly contrasts with headline projections that initially suggested a 4% GDP boost over time.
See Also: Nancy Pelosi Invested $5 Million In An AI Company Last Year — Here's How You Can Invest In Multiple Pre-IPO AI Startups With Just $1,000.
Many large-cap companies, including Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have promised massive investments—$500 billion each over multiple years—but their past spending doesn't align.
Apple spent just $10 billion on U.S. capex and $31.4 billion on global R&D in 2024. Nvidia's corresponding figures were even lower, suggesting that headline figures may include spending on acquisitions, partnerships or input costs that don't translate into actual U.S. capital formation.
