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President Donald Trump has said that the number of Americans claiming Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits has dropped by more than 600,000 since he took office. The president made the claim at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju on Wednesday. In a 45-minute address to business executives, Trump highlighted what he described as major economic and diplomatic successes of his second term. SNAP benefits have made headlines recently after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that food assistance, which is issued to just under 42 million low- and no-income Americans nationwide, will not be distributed on time in November due to the ongoing government shutdown. The federal government has been shut down since October 1, when senators failed to reach an agreement on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. As a result, nonessential services delivered by the federal government have stopped, and programs that rely on federal funding, like SNAP, cannot be paid. The Agriculture Department has also declined to use contingency funds to keep SNAP benefits flowing into November, which has been met with legal action from state officials. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Speaking in South Korea, Trump said: “In nine months, we’ve lifted over 600,000 Americans off food stamps.” According to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, between January and May 2025 the number of SNAP recipients nationwide dropped by 645,315—from 42,380,525 to 41,735,210. Trump did not give a reason why the number of SNAP recipients had dropped. Newsweek has contacted the USDA for comment via email. The number of SNAP recipients nationwide has been declining since October 2024, three months before Trump took office. In October 2024, there were 43,250,829 claimants. This dropped by 231,981 the following month and a further 61,469 in December 2024. Overall, SNAP recipients dropped by 1,515,619 between October 2024 and May 2025. Data shows the number of SNAP claimants has dropped by nearly 650,000 between January and May. However, a reason for this drop has not been given. Learn more about Newsweek Fact Check.
