President Donald Trump on Saturday brushed off concerns about the debt crisis plaguing the United States — now surpassing $40 trillion — in favor of a Hail-Mary strategy of economic growth.
“It’s been a problem for 35 years and what we have now that we’ve never had before… is we have tremendous growth — and the way you take care of debt is with growth,” Trump told reporters Saturday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. His response came after the monthly U.S. budget deficit reached $432 billion in July — the highest it has been since March 2021, according to a report by the Department of the Treasury.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. Department of the Treasury immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
WATCH:
.@POTUS on the national debt: “It’s been a problem for 35 years and what we have now that we’ve never had before… is we have tremendous growth — and the way you take care of debt is with growth.” pic.twitter.com/J1WFPcJvcQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 21, 2026
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent signaled a similar strategy after his department reported the U.S. government’s deficit reached over $40 trillion as of Tuesday.
Bessent told CNBC in an interview Thursday that there is a “very good chance” the deficit has reached its peak under Trump and that he may increase long-term bond buybacks to inject liquidity back into the market.
“There’s nothing magic about the 40-trillion number,” Bessent said in part. “We can grow our way out of that.”
Multiple powers on Wall Street, such as Bridgewater Capital founder Ray Dalio and Manulife Investment Management executive Nathan Thooft, however, appeared to shortly thereafter doubt the administration’s solution.
“The Treasury can influence liquidity and sentiment, but it can’t sustainably override growth, inflation, deficits, and supply,” Thooft warned, Bloomberg reported Friday.
Following a similar sentiment, many investors appear to have fled toward gold and Bitcoin as the DXY index — which is meant to measure the strength of the U.S. dollar — dropped 2.43% within one month as of Friday.
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