1 trillion U.S. dollars, not even 10 cents less

On May 24th, local time, U.S. President Trump delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony of the West Point Military Academy in New York. When talking about the military budget issue, Trump said he would not cut the country's $1 trillion defense budget.

Trump said: "A US$1 trillion military budget. US$1 trillion! Some people ask if it can be reduced? I made it clear - not even 10 cents less. To reduce it, we can start from countless other places..."

When Trump met with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on April 7th, he said that the U.S. defense budget for the next fiscal year will reach $1 trillion for the first time. "No one has ever seen anything like this." If approved by Congress, it would be the largest annual defense budget in the United States to date.

If approved by Congress, the United States will enter the "trillion-dollar defense budget era" from October 1st this year, the beginning of fiscal year 2026. This would be a nearly 12% increase over the fiscal year 2025 defense budget.