The United States’ gross national debt has crossed $40 trillion for the first time, reaching approximately $40.05 trillion, according to Treasury Department data from this week. That figure is more than double the $19.95 trillion recorded when Donald Trump first entered the White House in January 2017. Federal borrowing has skyrocketed across Republican and Democratic administrations, driven by a mix of wars, recessions, tax cuts and emergency spending.
Newsweek compared how the debt grew during the Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W Bush administrations. The $40 trillion figure represents total public debt outstanding, commonly called gross federal debt. It includes about $32.27 trillion in debt held by investors and approximately $7.78 trillion in intragovernmental holdings, such as Treasury securities held by federal trust funds.
The milestone is important because the government must pay interest on its outstanding obligations while continuing to finance Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense and other federal programs. Interest costs have totaled nearly $1.2 trillion during fiscal year 2026, according to Treasury figures, making interest one of the government’s largest spending categories. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that debt held by the public will increase from approximately 101 percent of gross domestic product in 2026 to 120 percent by 2036.
The data reveals that national debt grew by approximately $11.6 trillion during Trump’s two nonconsecutive terms combined. That includes an increase of about $7.8 trillion during his first term and roughly $3.84 trillion since he returned to office in January 2025. In comparison, the debt increased by approximately $8.4 trillion during Joe Biden’s four years in office, about $9.3 trillion over Barack Obama’s eight years and roughly $4.9 trillion during George W.
Bush’s eight-year presidency. However, experts say these figures only measure what happened to the debt while each president was in office and do not indicate that each president personally caused every dollar of the increase. Recessions, wars, emergencies and interest costs can also substantially alter federal borrowing.
Crisis spending, whether it was the massive bailouts during the GFC or COVID-era spending, increased deficits significantly,” Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek. Biden presided over the largest four-year dollar increase at approximately $8.45 trillion. But the percentage increase during his presidency, roughly 30.5 percent, was smaller than the percentage increases under Bush, Obama and Trump’s first term.
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