Term: 2017–2021
Donald Trump entered office with a strong economy and declining annual deficits. A key policy of his administration was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). This was one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history, dramatically lowering the corporate tax rate and also reducing individual income taxes. The tax cuts were not offset by spending cuts and were projected to add trillions to the debt over the next decade.
In addition to tax cuts, his administration signed bipartisan budget deals that increased spending for both defense and domestic programs, effectively ending the spending caps known as "sequestration." This combination of lower revenue and higher spending caused annual deficits to rise again, approaching $1 trillion even before the major crisis of his term.
The final year of Trump's presidency was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis caused a severe economic shutdown. In response, the Trump administration and Congress passed several massive, bipartisan relief packages to support individuals, businesses, and the healthcare system.
The largest of these was the CARES Act, which at over $2 trillion was the largest economic rescue package in American history. This emergency spending, while critical for preventing a total economic collapse, caused the federal deficit and the national debt to surge at an unprecedented rate.
Debt at Start of Term (2017): ~$19.94 trillion
Debt at End of Term (2021): ~$27.75 trillion
Total Increase: ~$7.81 trillion
Percentage Increase: ~39%
About a quarter of the entire U.S. national debt existing at the end of his term was added during his four years in office. This was the result of a multi-faceted fiscal policy: significant tax cuts and spending increases in his first three years, followed by historic emergency spending to combat the devastating economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.