President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a massive increase in U.S. military spending, proposing a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027.

The proposed budget would mark an increase of roughly $600 billion over the current 2026 military spending level of $901 billion. This would be, by far, the largest defense budget in American history.

Trump announced the plan in a post on Truth Social, stating that the increased funding would allow the country to build a “Dream Military” that would keep Americans “safe and secure, regardless of foe.”

Trump justified the spending increase by claiming that tariff revenues, paid for by American citizens, would cover the additional costs while also allowing the government to pay down the national debt and provide dividend checks to “moderate income Patriots.” 

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released an analysis finding that the proposed increase would add approximately $5.8 trillion to the national debt over the next decade when interest costs are factored in. The nonpartisan organization noted that tariff revenues would cover only about half the cost of the military spending increase, roughly $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion through 2035, compared to the $5 trillion in additional defense spending.

“President Trump’s proposal to explode the Pentagon budget with a 50 percent hike next year is as wasteful as it sounds,” Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, said in a statement. “Congress is already poised to approve a 13 percent increase in Pentagon spending this year. We’re over $38 trillion in debt. We have real needs, at home and abroad, none of which will be easier to meet by hitting the gas pedal on the debt crisis. The president says this enormous increase would be offset by tariff revenue. Besides the fact that the math doesn’t add up, he has also promised that revenue to reduce the deficit, send $2000 checks to citizens, bailout farmers impacted by the trade war, and the list goes on. This increase cannot happen. It must not happen. Congress must repudiate this nonsense.”

Actual tariff revenue has fallen well short of Trump’s claims. The Bipartisan Policy Center reported that U.S. gross tariff revenues for 2025 totaled approximately $289 billion, while Customs and Border Protection data showed roughly $200 billion collected in customs duties. These figures are significantly lower than the $600 billion Trump has claimed. Tariffs are also paid for by the American consumer, rather than the importing country, as Trump often states.

The budget proposal comes as Trump has pursued an aggressive military posture globally. In recent days, the president has ordered a military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, threatened military action in Colombia, and suggested the forcible acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally. U.S. forces continue to mass in the Caribbean Sea.​

Trump has also pushed for ambitious military projects including the Golden Dome missile defense system—a space-based shield estimated to cost $175 billion—and a new class of “Trump-class” battleships, each projected to cost around $10 billion. The Golden Dome initiative alone faces skepticism from defense experts who estimate its true cost could exceed $831 billion over two decades.​

Alongside the budget announcement, Trump issued an executive order and social media warnings targeting defense contractors, particularly singling out Raytheon (part of RTX Corp.) for criticism. He threatened to cut off Pentagon purchases from companies that continue stock buybacks and dividend payments instead of investing in expanded weapons manufacturing capacity.​

The executive order caps executive compensation at defense firms with U.S. military contracts at $5 million annually and prohibits stock buybacks and dividends until companies increase investments in production facilities. Trump specifically called out Raytheon as “the least responsive to the needs of the Department of War” and warned the company would “no longer be doing business” with the Pentagon unless it changed course.​

Defense stocks initially declined following Trump’s contractor warnings but rallied after the budget increase announcement, with shares of major contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon rising more than 5% in after-hours trading.

The proposal will be reviewed in Congress.