United States President Donald Trump has stated that his administration has approved a US defense budget of "about" $1 trillion. This is reported by UNN with reference to Bloomberg.
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"We are very careful about spending, but the army is something we must build, and we must be strong, because there are many bad forces out there now," Trump said at the White House on Monday during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump added that his administration would approve a budget that would be "the largest we have ever done for the military."
Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, posted on X: "Coming soon: the first trillion-dollar defense budget. President Donald Trump is rebuilding our army - and fast."
The Trump administration has not yet released its budget request for fiscal year 2026, and the country's government is operating under temporary funding for this year. The draft budget is expected to be released later this spring.
Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended that the U.S. government increase defense spending by about $50 billion more than projected in fiscal year 2026, and that increase would cause the Pentagon's budget to exceed $1 trillion in the coming years.
Hegseth, meanwhile, has been one of the most active supporters of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to cut costs, and the Pentagon, with a budget of $850 billion a year and approximately 2 million employees, is the largest government agency.
In February, the minister ordered an 8% cut in some undefined categories of Pentagon and military service spending and directed the funds to higher priority programs such as missile defense.