WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump proposed on Wednesday that the military budget for the United States in 2027 should be $1.5 trillion to keep Americans “safe and secure” during very “troubled and dangerous times.”
“After long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president claimed the “tremendous numbers being produced by tariffs” is the reason why the U.S. would be “able to easily hit the $1.5 Trillion Dollar number while, at the same time, producing an unparalled Military Force.”
The budget for 2026 is set at $901 billion and includes a pay raise for troops.
The U.S. government collected gross revenues of $288.5 billion last year from tariffs and other excise taxes, up from $98.3 billion in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Trump on Wednesday also threatened to cut off Pentagon purchases from Raytheon, one of the biggest U.S. defense contractors, if the company did not end the practice of stock buybacks and invest more profits into building out its weapons manufacturing capacity.
“Either Raytheon steps up, and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer be doing business with Department of War,” Trump said on his social platform. “Also, if Raytheon wants further business with the United States Government, under no circumstances will they be allowed to do any additional Stock Buybacks, where they have spent Tens of Billions of Dollars, until they are able to get their act together.”
The Trump administration issued an executive order in April 2025 that aims to strengthen U.S. national security by transforming how the Department of Defense, now the Department of War, buys and develops weapons and technology, ensuring the U.S. military maintains a decisive edge.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in November, called on Pentagon contractors to move faster when it comes to weapons production timelines or “fade away.”
He said “speed and volume will rule” when it comes to delivering critical capabilities to the nation’s war fighters and “dominating” battlefields, noting that he thinks the sense of urgency has “slipped too much.”
The call for the massive surge in spending comes days after Trump ordered a military operation to capture deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
Trump, in recent days, has also called for taking over the Danish territory of Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open to carrying out military operations in Colombia.
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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