The United States national debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time in history, according to Treasury Department data released Wednesday. The total reached $40.047 trillion as of Tuesday afternoon, marking a significant fiscal milestone for the federal government.
The debt stood at $19.95 trillion in January 2017, when President Donald Trump was sworn in for his first term. The doubling of the debt over approximately nine years reflects years of escalating budget deficits driven by government spending that has outpaced revenue.
About one-third of the increase from 2017 to 2026 occurred during the two years following the outbreak of COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic in March 2020. During his first term, Trump approved $8.4 trillion worth of debt, with a substantial portion directed to COVID-19 relief spending. President Joe Biden, Trump's successor, approved $4.3 trillion worth of debt during his tenure, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The milestone was reached just five months after the debt surpassed $39 trillion, indicating an acceleration in the rate of debt accumulation. In fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025, $1.8 trillion has been added to the debt so far.
The Treasury Department's most recent monthly accounting showed a $432.3 billion deficit in July, the highest monthly level in more than five years. The year-to-date shortfall is nearing $1.8 trillion, higher than the comparable period in the previous fiscal year.
A decade ago, the national debt stood at $19.4 trillion. The federal debt has ballooned as government spending continues to outstrip revenue, forcing the U.S. to borrow more money to cover the shortfall. The government deficit has doubled over the last decade.
According to sources, the recent acceleration in debt growth has been driven partly by changes in tariff policy. The Trump administration ceased collecting tariffs on imports from around the world after the Supreme Court ruled in February that the tariffs were illegal, reducing government revenue.
As the government continues to borrow, interest payments are consuming a larger share of the nation's spending. The debt milestone arrives in a context of increasingly higher costs for servicing the debt, with the Treasury conducting auctions to finance government borrowing at elevated rates.
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