The administration of Donald Trump has announced "the largest military budget in U.S. history," amounting to approximately one trillion US dollars. This was stated by U.S. President Donald Trump, Current Time reports.
The official military budget for 2026 has not been published yet, and the current defense budget of the U.S. stands at $850 billion.
“We are saving a lot of money, but we need to build the army, and we must be strong because there are many bad forces around us,” said Trump.
Pentagon Chief Mark Esper wrote on Twitter that the U.S. Department of Defense intends to "wisely" spend every dollar of American taxpayers' money "on lethal weapons and combat readiness." He promised that Trump would "quickly restore the American armed forces."
It is unclear whether these expenditures will be approved by Congress, as Trump holds only a slim majority in both chambers, and even 1-2 votes could be crucial during the voting.
In January 2025, Lloyd Austin, who was then the U.S. Secretary of Defense, recommended that the government increase defense spending to US$926.5 billion in the 2026 fiscal year, to US$972.8 billion in the 2027 fiscal year, and to over one trillion dollars in the 2028 fiscal year.
However, these figures do not account for U.S. expenditures on military assistance to Ukraine and Israel.
