Trump Wants US Defense Spending Slashed by Half

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to slash US defense spending by half and engage in denuclearization and arms control talks with Beijing and Moscow.

Speaking to reporters in Thursday’s Oval Office question-and-answer session, Trump said the arms control talks would happen “when things settle down,” likely referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“At some point when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China, and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular, those two, and I’m going to say there’s no reason for us to be spending almost a trillion dollars on [the] military,” Trump said, according to The Independent.

“I want to say, let’s cut our military budget in half. And we can do that,” Trump added.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has introduced a series of cost-cutting measures across government institutions, a move headed by billionaire Elon Musk and Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an external advisory body that was granted widespread authority into government systems.

DOGE’s activities have led to a series of project and institution shutdowns and raised security concerns, with experts questioning the legitimacy of DOGE and its overarching powers.

At present, the US tops the chart with the largest military spending globally, with $824.3 billion recorded in 2024.

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China ranks second with an officially planned defense budget of $231 billion in 2024.

However, since the arms industry is state-owned in China, with Beijing having control over the pricing, some analysts believe the actual spending is likely much higher after taking military purchasing power parity into account.

Russia ranks third, with its 2024 defense spending estimated at approximately $120 billion. Moscow planned to boost the spending to $145 billion in 2025, an  unprecedented amount since the Soviet era.