President Trump has got plenty of ideas about how he’ll address national debt: He’ll pay it down through tariffs, or offset some of the borrowing thanks to proceeds from his “golden visa” program.
He’s also said he’ll rebalance the debt-to-GDP ratio by growing the economy, and would reduce the need for as much borrowing thanks to initiatives like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
And while no economist will expect the White House to turn around national debt overnight, they also might have hoped for some more robust policies on the issue.
This month, America’s national debt surpassed $37 trillion—a record milestone that the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) had previously believed would be hit by 2030. But one pandemic later, the gargantuan spending the government undertook to steer the economy through the crisis is making its mark.
Uncle Sam is adding a trillion more dollars to the debt burden every five months, noted Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, an organization that works with policymakers, economists, and the public to advocate for a more sustainable fiscal outlook.
