President
Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden talked about key issues related
to American people ahead of the November 3 presidential election on Thursday at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee.

The two
candidates addressed myriad issues varying from police reforms to uniting the
nation after elections. Trump, however, made sundry claims some of which weren’t be
backed by facts. President Trump stated, “2.2 million people modelled out were expected to die. We
closed up the greatest economy in the world in order to fight this horrible
disease.”

The 2.2 million figure was cited from a report by the Imperial College
COVID-19 Response Team. The figures referred to by President Trump are an estimate on the number of deaths that could happen if no action
was taken.

The report states, “In an unmitigated epidemic, we would
predict approximately 510,000 deaths in GB and 2.2 million in the US.”

This projection has often been cited as the worst-case scenario.
According to the John Hopkins University death toll, 223,000 people have already
died from the disease.

Democratic
nominee Joe Biden made a spurious claim when he stated, “There are 1,000 deaths a day now.
1,000 deaths a day.”

While there
have been many days when deaths due to COVID-19 in America crossed the 1000 mark,
however the toll fluctuates. In the
last seven days, for example, the tallies were 990, 854, 420, 509, 661, 796 and
1,103, respectively, representing an average of 762.

During the course of debate, Trump stated, “China is paying, they’re
paying billions and billions of dollars.” The 74-year-old was
referring to the amount imposed by his administration through tariffs.

Biden’s rebuttal of the Trump claim on the issue was accurate. The
Democratic nominee stated, “its taxpayers’ money.”

As the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center notes, a tariff “is almost
always paid directly by the importer (usually a domestic firm), and never by
the exporting country.”

Referring to trade, Biden said of Trump:
“He has caused the deficit with China to go up, not down.” This claim is
inaccurate.

The US trade deficit with China fell slightly to $344 billion by 2019,
after rising to $418 billion in 2018. So, compared with 2016 the deficit has fallen.

Also Read: Key moments from final showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

Trump’s tariff policy has been aimed to reduce the trade deficit and end
what he calls unfair trade practices.

Under a truce signed on January 15, 2020, China made a two-year
commitment to import at least $200 billion worth of US agricultural,
manufactured, seafood and other products and services, above what it purchased
in 2017.