US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced plans to increase US military spending to $1.5 trillion next year, saying the investment was necessary to strengthen national defence while creating American jobs.
Speaking at the Pennsylvania Defence and Innovation Summit, Trump said his administration had already made a record investment in the US military.
“We’ve invested a record $1 trillion in the United States military, and next year, I’m proud to say, and Pete (War Secretary), we have to get moving on this, a $ 1.5 trillion we’re going up to. We need it,” Trump said.
Trump argued that the increased defence spending would also support domestic employment because the military equipment would be manufactured in the United States. He said, “It’s all made in the USA, so it’s not fully a cost, you know it’s a cost, we gotta take something, but it’s called jobs and when you think of it that way.”
The US President also highlighted his previous military investments, saying, “I built the military in my first term, and I used it in my second term.”
Referring to military action involving Venezuela, Trump said, “As you know, Venezuela was, that was actually 48 minutes, but let’s call it one day, and we’ve paid for the cost of that war 50 times over, more than 50 times over already.”
Here, Trump was referring to a January 2026 US military operation that ousted and captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Trump claimed the operation took “exactly 48 minutes” to win and that seized Venezuelan oil had already paid for the cost of the intervention “more than 50 times over”.
ANI
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