3 min readJul 16, 2026 12:32 PM IST
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to increase US military spending to $1.5 trillion next year, citing profits from his brief war in Venezuela to justify increased expenditure amid Iran war. Trump argued that the investment was necessary to strengthen American national defence and creating jobs in the US.
The US President’s call for $1.5 trillion war spending comes even as the White House administration faces one of its biggest challenges owing to the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has stretched beyond Trump’s expectations.
“We’ve invested a record $1 trillion in the United States military and next year, I’m proud to say, and Pete (Hegseth), we have to get moving on this, a $1.5 trillion we’re going up to. We need it,” Trump said while speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, according to Fox News.
High expenditure will support domestic employment, says Trump
Trump said his administration had already made a record investment in the US military and reasoned that the high expenditure would support domestic employment.
“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,” he said.
Trump also highlighted his previous military investments and cited the Venezuela example to make a case for the high spending.
“I built the military in my first term, and I used it in my second term. 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,” he added.
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Trump was referring to the January 2026 US military operation that ousted and captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The President said that the operation took “48 minutes” to win, adding that the seized Venezuelan oil had already paid for the cost of the intervention “more than 50 times over”.
The Trump administration has been calling for $1.5 trillion defence budget for “generational investment to unleash the American Arsenal of Freedom”. The defence budget, once approved, will mark 42 per cent increase over current funding levels.
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