According to the US National Interest bimonthly website on April 11, although President Donald Trump advocated reducing waste in the campaign and significantly reducing the size of the federal government, he promised to increase the Pentagon's budget by 12% to $1 trillion.

Compared to whether one can really spend trillions of dollars as military spending, the bigger challenge for the United States is to convert military spending into real combat effectiveness.

Compared to whether one can really spend trillions of dollars as military spending, the bigger challenge for the United States is to convert military spending into real combat effectiveness.

Trump told reporters at a press conference held by the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the 7th: "No one has ever seen such a thing."

Trump did not mention any specific projects, or even which departments of the U.S. military might increase their budget, saying that the expenditure will be used for much-needed military hardware and advanced platforms.

Trump also said: "We have never had planes, missiles, anything we have ordered. In many ways, it's so bad that we have to do it, and hopefully we don't have to use it."

The White House usually announces the full budget for the next fiscal year every spring. The 2026 fiscal year will begin on October 1, 2025. The total amount is still likely to change in the coming weeks.

Last year, Congress approved a $892 billion defense budget.

Some lawmakers have pushed for increased military spending to help U.S. troops replace old equipment and maintain strategic and tactical advantages when facing potential opponents.

However, others on Capitol Hill have tried to control defense spending to balance the federal budget while offering tax breaks to U.S. citizens.

Although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseyth said the move was intended to "use every penny of taxpayers sanely", the question is where the money will come from. Trump simply hinted that the money would come from spending ordered by the government's efficiency ministry led by billionaire Elon Musk.

Under current plans, the U.S. Army has been considering reducing its troops by up to 90,000. Critics warn that the move could cut skilled personnel and that the U.S. Army has struggled to achieve its recruitment target in recent years.

It is not clear where Trump came up with the $1 trillion figure, but as the Military Times reported, “even with increasing the budget, the US $1 trillion defense budget still fails to meet the Trump-proclaimed target of all NATO countries to use 5% of their GDP for defense spending.”

In fact, despite Trump's repeated claims that NATO has not made its due contribution, the United States is not even the most spent among NATO countries in terms of defense spending in terms of GDP. Currently, the U.S.'s defense spending accounts for about 3.6% of its GDP, down from nearly 4% in Poland and Estonia. In addition, Lithuania announced earlier this year that it would increase its defense spending to 5% of its GDP.

The military also explained that the fund should be invested in modernization rather than buying more aircraft and warships or maintaining platforms that have passed the golden period. Even if the larger budget is approved, Pentagon officials may be quarrel with members of Congress on the use of funds.

The defense budget involves not only the Ministry of Defense, but also other agencies. Nevertheless, Trump’s use of the term “army” when announcing the budget suggests that he may be considering more traditional armed forces than other departments and federal agencies.

The biggest concern at the moment is to provide more funding without clear focus on the mission.

"In more than 200 countries and regions on Earth, no country is comparable to the United States in terms of defense spending," defense observer Harrison Cass previously wrote in National Interest.

Cass further warned: "Although the United States spends nearly $1 trillion in military spending every year, in a military sense, the United States still cannot dominate the world order..."