By TheCradle | Source
US President Donald Trump has proposed expanding the US military budget for 2027 to $1.5 trillion, a massive spending increase over the $901 billion allotted for 2026.
“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on 8 January.
The military received an additional $175 billion through legislation known as the “big, beautiful bill” that Trump signed into law last year.
The US president called for the massive 50 percent surge in spending amid a major military build-up in the Caribbean and days after ordering US forces to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Trump says he plans to take control of the country’s oil reserves, considered the largest in the world.
Washington is also spending large amounts to support Israel in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its bombing and occupations of Lebanon and Syria, providing some $21 billion in military aid to Tel Aviv since October 2023.
In the past week, Trump and other US officials have issued threats against Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, and Iran.
A day before ordering Maduro’s abduction, Trump warned the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if Iran “shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters.”
In the past week, Iran has faced widespread protests over soaring inflation. Armed rioters with backing from Israel’s Mossad have attacked Iranian police amid the protests in a bid to destabilize the country.
Trump repeated the threat on Monday, telling reporters on Air Force One, “I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States” if Iranian protestors are killed.
Israel is pushing for a new war against Iran after launching an unprovoked attack on the Islamic Republic in June that killed nearly 1,000 Iranians, including 38 children, in 12 days. The US joined the war, bombing Iranian nuclear sites on Israel’s behalf.
Trump claims the US can afford the massive $600-billion increase in the military budget because of increased revenue generated by his administration through tariffs on imports to the US from China and other trade partners.
The US government collected gross revenues of $288.5 billion last year from tariffs and other excise taxes, up from $98.3 billion in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC).
However, this is not enough to cover Trump’s desired spending increases or pay down the soaring national debt, BPC noted.
The US national debt recently surpassed $38 trillion, while the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio reached approximately 120 percent, a threshold considered a dangerous economic “red line” by economists.
US government interest payments now exceed $1 trillion annually, which is an amount that is difficult to sustain and could spur a financial crisis.