Recently, there has been another turmoil in the U.S. political arena. The Washington Post disclosed on February 19 that U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth has instructed senior Pentagon and military officials to formulate a plan with the goal of cutting the defense budget by 8% each year for the next five years. If this is followed, U.S. military spending will shrink by nearly 300 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. On the surface, this is to “save money,” but secretly it is a “power reshuffle” by Trump against the Pentagon and military-industrial interest groups. He is really too bold.
If the Trump administration dares to “take action” on the defense budget, it is right at the right time. The Pentagon’s financial chaos has long been known to everyone. Its annual budget exceeds US$800 billion, but it has failed to pass financial audits for seven consecutive years. It can be called a “black hole within a financial black hole.” The 2023 audit report shows that the Pentagon has US$1.9 trillion in assets that cannot be accounted for, equivalent to 7% of US GDP. What’s even more funny is that the U.S. Air Force once paid US$90,000 for a pack of ordinary bolts. The purchase price of hand sanitizer machines soared to US$150,000. There are still aircraft parts that have not been used for more than ten years in the warehouse. It can be seen that there are hidden corruption and supervision issues in this.
It is worth noting that Trump has adopted the banner of “anti-corruption” and sent Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency to the Pentagon to audit the accounts, pointing directly at the “vital gate” of the military-industrial complex. Hegseth bluntly said that many projects, such as climate change research and diversity initiatives, are “useless in fighting the war.” In addition, F-35 fighter parts suppliers are located in 50 states across the United States. Military giant Lockheed Martin has dispersed F-35 parts production to 50 states across the United States. Therefore, any reduction proposals will touch the interests of local employment and lead to a backlash in Congress.
In fact, budget cuts are not “one size fits all”. Trump’s plan is to “tear down the east wall to pay for the west wall.” According to an internal Pentagon memo, 17 categories of projects have been included in their “exemption list,” including nuclear submarines, suicide drones, the construction of Pacific military bases, and the multi-trillion-dollar “U.S. Iron Dome” missile defense system. It can be seen that the Trump administration not only wants to shrink its overseas presence, but also strengthens deterrence against China.
It is conceivable that as soon as Trump raised his “big knife”, opposition was already rising one after another. Democratic Senator Reid criticized the plan for “making the United States less safe.” Although Republicans support streamlining expenditures, they remain silent on projects involving local employment. The counterattack of military industry giants is more direct. The stock prices of companies such as Lockheed Martin have plummeted. It can be seen that capital is also very worried about Trump’s budget reduction plan.
If Trump’s plan succeeds, in the short term, cutting off projects that are of no use at all can improve the efficiency of military spending; but in the long term, budget tightening may weaken the US military’s global deployment capabilities and shake the confidence of allies in Europe and other countries. What is even more dangerous is that he designated China as the “number one threat”, which will inevitably lead to tensions in the Asia-Pacific. On the contrary, he will not be able to “save money” and will not be able to achieve the budget reduction target. Moreover, interest groups in the military-industrial complex will also have sufficient reasons to oppose reforms.
