Forget Venezuela and Greenland – here is the real trillion-dollar question

In today’s chaotic world, we can sum up the shift in the global economy and geopolitics with a single number: 1 trillion.

The year 2024 will be remembered as the first time in history that a national government’s interest payments on its debt exceeded US$1 trillion, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s pledge to cut federal spending and his aggressive global trade war, the United States is now adding US$1 trillion in national debt every 71 days – up from every 150 days in 2024, according to the US Congress Joint Economic Committee. This pace marks the fastest peacetime accumulation of national debt in history, with no sign of slowing soon.

Last year, the Trump administration unveiled a plan to reach a US$1 trillion defence budget by the late 2020s – a target later revised upwards to a staggering US$1.5 trillion by 2027.

Trump, who has lamented being overlooked by the Nobel Peace Prize committee, ordered military strikes on seven countries during the first year of his second term. US military spending last year was estimated between US$832 billion and US$962 billion. Barring a major surprise, the US is poised to become the first nation ever to spend US$1 trillion annually on its military – either this year or next.

Some observers may shrug off these figures, noting the surprising resilience of the US economy. Annualised gross domestic product (GDP) growth hit 4.3 per cent in the third quarter of last year, outpacing most other developed economies, which are significantly smaller in absolute terms.

South China Morning Post