“In a post on Truth Social, President Trump called for increasing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 defense budget to $1.5 trillion, rather than $1 trillion he said he previously wanted to propose. We preliminarily estimate that this would increase defense spending by $5 trillion through 2035, adding $5.8 trillion to the national debt when interest is included. To justify this increase, President Trump points to the substantial revenue being brought in by the tariffs enacted thus far in his second term, arguing that the tariffs would be sufficient to cover increased military spending, rebate payments, and deficit reduction. In reality, the military spending increase would be about twice as large as expected tariff revenue.”
$1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade-2026-01-07