Overview
- The request represents roughly a 50% jump over the $901 billion defense topline Congress set for 2026, an unprecedented one‑year increase.
- Trump says higher tariff receipts would fund the expansion and even allow debt reduction, a claim budget analysts and watchdogs immediately questioned.
- He threatened to bar contractors from dividends and stock buybacks and to cap executive pay at $5 million until production improves, later singling out Raytheon and warning of lost Pentagon business.
- Defense shares fell on the warnings, with Northrop Grumman down more than 5% and other major contractors dropping over 4%.
- The push follows the U.S. raid that captured Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and heightened deployments in the Caribbean, while the administration also talks up options involving Greenland and other flashpoints.