President Donald Trump is calling on Congress for an approximately 50% increase in the colossal U.S. defense budget by 2027, according to documents released on Friday by the White House. His proposal, if approved by lawmakers, would see American military spending skyrocket from $1 trillion this year to $1.5 trillion next year. Is this a way to pressure Iran? Perhaps, as the American president is caught in the midst of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.
His proposal, if approved by lawmakers, would see American military spending soar to $1.5 trillion next year, a record in recent history for the world’s leading superpower.
The increase is precisely $445 billion more than the defense budget set for 2026. Non-military spending, on the other hand, would decrease by 10% in 2027, according to the American executive. The United States currently holds the largest defense budget in the world, by far.
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s research institute identified in 2024 the countries with the highest military expenditures, and America’s outweighed the combined amount of the following nine countries in the ranking (China, Russia, Germany, India, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France, and Japan).
Additionally, Donald Trump asserted on his Truth Social network on Friday that the United States could “open” the Strait of Hormuz and “seize the oil” with “a little more time,” without specifying how he planned to do so.
“With a little more time, we could easily OPEN THE STRAITS OF HORMUZ, SEIZE THE OIL, AND MAKE A FORTUNE. THIS WOULD BE A + WINDFALL + FOR THE WHOLE WORLD,” wrote the American president. The message does not detail how the U.S. could end Iran’s control over this strategic maritime route or which oil is being referred to.
The non-military expenses, on the other hand, would decrease overall by 10% in 2027, according to the American executive.
Cuts are planned for several programs that the White House criticizes for promoting progressive approaches on gender, a notion rejected by the American far right; on racial or sexual discriminations, whose reality is contested by the American executive; or on climate change, which Donald Trump denies.
Some social, educational, or health-related expenses are significantly reduced in the project orchestrated by budget director Russell Vought. He applies the principles outlined in the ultra-conservative “Project 2025,” of which he is the mastermind.
In his plans, the main public medical research agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sees its budget reduced by $5 billion. Development aid projects or humanitarian assistance also see their budgets cut by several billion dollars, according to the detailed project published on Friday.
However, the project does foresee a substantial increase in expenses related to Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policy, as well as other security missions. The White House, for example, requests to allocate $152 million next year to the project to reopen the famous Alcatraz prison, dear to the American president.
This defense budget proposal is released after over a month of a military operation against Iran that would cost up to $2 billion per day, according to American media, following meetings between lawmakers and government representatives.
The legislative process promises to be challenging, especially with the “mid-terms” looming on the horizon. Democratic opposition representatives, hoping to regain control of Congress in the November elections, have already criticized the executive’s request.
“Americans want healthcare spending, not war spending,” protested Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which, along with the Senate, makes up the American Parliament.
Opponents of the president have also widely circulated an excerpt from a speech delivered this week by Donald Trump at a private luncheon, the video of which was briefly posted online by the White House before being removed. “We are fighting wars,” said the Republican, in a downward spiral in the polls, partly due to the economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
“We cannot handle child care costs, Medicaid (health insurance for the poorest), Medicare (health insurance for the elderly),” he declared, arguing that these expenses should be borne by American states and not the federal government.
Nevertheless, some conservatives in Donald Trump’s camp could resist a budget proposal that does nothing to alleviate the very heavy American public debt, which has already surpassed $39 trillion.
