United States President Donald Trump on Friday said that he would make a huge budget request for one of the "greatest military buildups in American history." Trump made the statement to defend his "America first" policies while addressing conservative activists of CPAC.
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Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is an organisation which gave Trump one of his first platforms in his journey to the US presidency. Trump, in his speech to CPAC, outlined plans for strengthening the US military, which is already the world's most powerful fighting force, and other initiatives like tax reform and regulatory rollback, according to Reuters.
Although Trump did not provide any specifics on his plans, he said that he would aim to upgrade the military in both offensive and defensive capabilities, with a huge spending request to the Congress. Trump is set to give his nationally televised speech to Congress on Tuesday.
The US president said that a strengthened military will make America's defence "bigger and better and stronger than ever before." "And, hopefully, we'll never have to use it, but nobody is going to mess with us. Nobody. It will be one of the greatest military buildups in American history," he added.
The conservatives gathered at the event burst into a round of applause when Trump said that he would follow through his election campaign vow of building a wall along the US and Mexico border to keep illegal immigrants at bay. Trump's promise to build the controversial wall along the southern Mexico border has soured relations with America's neighbouring country.
Trump's speech on Friday bore a striking resemblance to his presidential campaign rhetoric, with heavy nationalist overtones and focusing on promises to boost US economic growth by retooling international trade deals, cracking down on immigration and boosting energy production.
Trump's request of a massive budget for military buildup will face harsh realities at the Capitol Hill. With the federal budget still running a large deficit, more expenditure will only add to building deficit. Trump, in his speech, also complained about the spending caps which were put in place on the defence budget in 2011.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer, however, said that Trump's proposed budget for this year "will be very clear" on how to fund the increase in overall military spending, Reuters reported.
