Alarms flashing red as Trump takes US debt to level almost beyond comprehension

September 10, 2026 — 5:00am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

When some of the nation’s best informed business and financial players start describing the current economic outlook as “GFC-like”, it’s time to worry.

For weeks, the concern about the confluence of higher interest rates on government debt, the AI building boom, inflation and the Trump administration’s loose grip on economic reality has been building.

As one analyst I spoke to recently put it, that concern is now flashing red.

And the person at the centre of this – Donald Trump – either doesn’t care or understand what he’s doing.

The heart of the problem is the sheer level of debt being created by the US government.

The numbers are almost beyond comprehension.

On track for a budget deficit of $US2 trillion this year ($2.8 trillion, about 6 per cent of GDP), government gross debt sailed through $US40 trillion last month. Experts believe it will clock $US41 trillion later this year.

The interest bill on that debt is rapidly climbing and is now $US1.25 trillion a year. That’s more than $US3 billion a day.

One of the reasons the interest bill is growing is that the interest rate on all that debt is soaring. Between the end of February – the day before Trump’s missiles started flying into Iran – and today, the interest rate on US government debt has soared by more than 20 per cent.

What the price of gold tells us about Trump and the future

Peter HartcherPolitical and international........

© The Age