Wednesday 1 March 2017

Donald Trump proposes a 54 billion $ increase in US defence budget

US president Donald Trump has announced that he will propose a 54 billion $ increase (9.3%) in US defence budget. The objective is to have a nuclear arsenal that is “top of the pack” and "to win wars". 

This rhetoric is typical of these days, but will hardly win wars like Iraq or Afghanistan. The era of unconditional surrender and peace treaties is long over. Also, at the end of the day the increase leads to a final figure of 2012, hardly enough to be a game changer. It remains to be seen how the extra funding is invested (nuclear weapons, aircrafts, deployments...).


Trump will have to convince the Congress too. A higher defence budget will lead to cuts somewhere else. So far, pensions and medical assistance will not be affected, but the environment agency and external assistance could be slashed. A group of generals have already warn against this. Even these cuts would not be enough to make up for the increase, which would lead to more deficit.

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