President Donald Trump said he would ask Congress to increase defense spending in 2027 to $1.5 trillion, announcing the proposal in a post on Truth Social weeks after signing a defense policy bill that authorized about $901 trillion in funding for the military in 2026.
Key data
The figure represents an increase of more than 50% over the 2026 funding approved in December, and would be the highest defense budget in US history.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said he arrived at the staggering $1.5 trillion after negotiating with members of Congress and insisted the huge budget would allow the United States to build its “dream army.”
The president also stated that revenue from tariffs would allow the government to “easily meet” the $1.5 trillion budget.
The huge budget is needed for what the president called “these very difficult and dangerous times,” Trump said, amid a whirlwind of controversy over the raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this week.
Key background
The government received about $195 billion in tariffs in 2025, according to the Treasury Department. In Wednesday’s Truth Social post, Trump also claimed that revenue from the tariffs would allow him to achieve other promised goals, including paying down the national debt and issuing a dividend to what he called “moderate-income patriots within our country.” The administration has repeatedly floated the idea of issuing $2,000 refund checks to Americans using tariff revenue, but has not laid out specific plans as of January for delivering these payments. In December, Trump approved a $12 billion aid package for farmers, including soybean producers previously affected by the tariff policy. The president stated that these funds would also come from tariff revenues.
This text was originally published in Forbes US.
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