Trump policies expected to push soaring debt even higher.
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Pedestrians sit at a bus shelter where an electronic billboard and a poster display the current U.S. national debt per person and as a nation, in Washington, D.C.
Pedestrians sit at a bus shelter where an electronic billboard and a poster display the current U.S. national debt per person and as a nation, in Washington, D.C., on July 5, 2023.
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March 12, 2025, 3:06 PM
The U.S. government’s budget deficit in 2024 was $1.8 trillion, which pushed the country’s overall debt to some $36 trillion. Some financial analysts suggest a debt load of that size simply isn’t sustainable, especially given the Trump administration’s legislative priority of making current tax cuts permanent and increasing spending on immigration enforcement—measures that would increase the deficit further.
What makes U.S. debt sustainable? Do international tensions increase the riskiness of U.S. debt? What would happen if the United States had a full-on debt crisis?