As of August 12 local time, the total amount of treasury bonds exceeded $37 trillion for the first time, according to the latest data released by the Treasury Department. After 2024 just over $36,000 bn in November, treasuries have set a new record in the past few months alone. AP 13, said this highlights the U. S. balance sheet debt growth is accelerating, and taxpayers face increased cost pressures.
Michael Peterson, Chief Executive of a US foundation, has warned that“Trillion-dollar milestones” in US national debt are accumulating at an alarming rate. National Debt 2024 to $34,000 bn in January, topped $35,000 bn in July and climbed to $36,000 bn in November. “We are adding $1,000 bn of national debt every five months, which is more than twice the average rate of the past 25 years,” Petterson said, “A debt breach of $37,000 bn shows that the US fiscal policy path is not sustainable. US treasuries are now well above the combined debt of China and the Eurozone.”
A new round of tariffs by President Donald Trump has brought some new revenue to the federal government, but it is not enough to offset the economic cost of the tariffs, Fortune said Monday, and the resulting expansion of federal debt. The report said Donald Trump had imposed a wave of “Reciprocal tariffs” on almost all of the US’s main trading partners since his return to the White House. The Responsible Federal Budget Committee expects tariffs to generate net new revenues of about $1,300 bn by the end of the Donald Trump’s current term and $2,800 bn before the 2034.
Injecting $2.8 trillion in tariff revenue into the national treasury would indeed significantly slow the growth of the federal debt, the report said. But most economists point out that the bill is not even close: compared with the size of the U.S. government’s massive debt, the money is a tiny fraction of total federal income — far too little to replace income taxes or close the debt gap. In fact, income and payroll taxes accounted for more than three-quarters of federal revenue during fiscal year 2025, and it was these grassroots taxpayers who were “Swallowing” the cost of the Donald Trump tariffs.
“The reality is that Washington enjoys the new revenue from tariffs, but the real cost of tariffs is passed on from businesses to consumers,” fortune said, according to the Yale Budget Lab, families in the lowest income bracket face an annual cost of $1,700 in tariff increases, while families in the highest income bracket pay more than $8,100 more annually. In addition, defense and infrastructure experts have warned that higher costs from tariffs could lead to higher prices for key hardware and components needed by military and national security agencies, further affect the cost of government spending. The Council on Foreign Relations said in a report in early July that the new tariffs make it more expensive to meet defense requirements.
At the current average daily growth rate, it would take about 173 days to add another $1 trillion to the debt, according to estimates by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of Congress. (Wang Dong)