Trump pledges fiscal restraint as US debt exceeds $40T

The US gross national debt crossed $40 trillion for the first time on August 19, hitting approximately $40.047 trillion according to Treasury data. President Trump, who has spent much of his second term promising to slash government spending, now presides over a debt load that has roughly doubled since his first inauguration in January 2017, when it stood at around $19.95 trillion. Federal debt has grown by $3.8 trillion since Trump’s second term began in January 2025, and the borrowing costs attached to that pile are increasingly eating into the federal budget. The numbers behind the number Of the $40 trillion total, about $32.27 trillion represents debt held by the public, meaning Treasury securities owned by investors, foreign governments, and institutions. The remaining $7.78 trillion sits in intragovernmental holdings, essentially money the government owes to its own trust funds like Social Security. The acceleration caught forecasters off guard. Revenue shortfalls from tariffs that were later invalidated, expenditures tied to the Iran conflict, and major tax legislation all contributed to the pile growing faster than projected. Trump’s first-term tax cuts are estimated to hav...