Trump wants US$1.5 trillion for ‘dream military’. Will China boost spending in response?

US President Donald Trump’s proposal to boost next year’s military budget to US$1.5 trillion aims to blunt China’s global influence, a move analysts said could push Beijing to speed up its own military build-up with “greater urgency”.

On Wednesday, Trump wrote on social media that the US military budget for the 2027 financial year should be raised in the face of “very troubled and dangerous times”.

“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump said.

He added that his administration’s retaliatory tariffs on countries that had “ripped off” the US had brought “tremendous income” back to the US, and that Washington could “easily hit” the US$1.5 trillion figure to fund an “unparalleled” military force and pay down debt.

Washington’s defence spending is expected to be around US$1 trillion this year, including the US$900 billion military budget approved by the US Congress in December, and an additional US$150 billion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year. Trump’s proposal would be an increase of around 50 per cent – the largest-ever increase in US defence spending.

It would also clash with other Trump administration priorities, such as slashing spending in response to rising US debt. This drive led to the creation of the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), an initiative headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

South China Morning Post