Trump Seeks Record Military Budget of $1.5T

January 8, 2026 | 02:12 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would seek to raise the military budget to $1.5 trillion in 2027, citing "troubled and dangerous times."

The massive surge represents an increase of more than 50 percent on the current year's defense budget set at $901 billion.

"This will allow us to build the 'Dream Military' that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe," Trump wrote in a social media post announcing his proposal.

The U.S. president said the "tremendous income" brought in by tariffs would allow the government to "easily hit the $1.5 trillion dollar number."

Trump admin pursues military action to achieve foreign policy goals

The Trump administration has, in recent days, built pressure on certain countries by either making use of its military force or by threatening military action to achieve its foreign policy goals.

The White House has said the U.S. military "is always an option" when it comes to taking control of Greenland, although France's foreign minister has said Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, has ruled out the possibility of an invasion.

U.S. forces also seized two oil tankers in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean over alleged sanctions violations on Wednesday.

And the U.S. military carried out a raid to depose and kidnap Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife from their compound in a military base in the middle of the night last weekend.

Trump singles out Raytheon, says defense companies putting investor interests before building military readiness

In a separate post on Wednesday evening, Trump also accused weapons manufacturers of prioritizing profits over production speed.

"Defense contractors are currently issuing massive dividends to their shareholders and massive stock buybacks, at the expense and detriment of investing in plants and equipment."

He threatened to cap executive pay at defense contractors at $5 million per year unless they build new production facilities and speed up delivery of arms.

Companies including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman each saw their share prices drop more than 4 percent on the back of the post, but shortly after, Trump singled out Raytheon in particular.

"I have been informed by the Department of War that defense contractor, Raytheon, has been the least responsive to the needs of the Department of War, the slowest in increasing their volume, and the most aggressive spending on their shareholders rather than the needs and demands of the United States military," Trump wrote on social media, referring to the rechristened Department of Defense.

He threatened to cut off Pentagon purchases from Raytheon if the company didn't invest more in military readiness.

Read: Trump Withdraws US from 66 International Organizations

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