US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday welcomed an estimate of the US deficit over the past year, which shows it has narrowed slightly, particularly under the effect of a sharp increase in customs duty revenues.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), responsible for analyzing the state of public finances on a nonpartisan basis, released a report Wednesday finding that the federal deficit was $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025.
That is to say, the State of the largest economy in the world spent 1,800 billion dollars more than it collected between October 2024 and September 2025 (the exercise is postponed).
This represents a decrease of 8 billion compared to 2024.
The Ministry of Finance usually publishes data on the state of public accounts every month. And the deficit for the year that just ended is reported in October.
But expenses are also increasing
But Scott Bessent emphasized Thursday that the current budget paralysis (or “shutdown”) was slowing operations.
That’s why he highlighted the CBO report, believing that the country was “on track” to reduce both the deficit and the resulting debt.
“According to CBO figures, and we do not yet have Treasury figures, the deficit in relation to GDP (gross domestic product) will increase from approximately 6.5% – the largest ever recorded in the history of the United States outside of periods of war or recession – to 5.9%,” he stressed at the beginning of a conference organized by the Federal Reserve (Fed), on local banks.
The audience applauded his words.
Since returning to power in January, President Donald Trump has dramatically increased tariffs on products entering the United States, generating greater resources.
Customs revenue (including import taxes) increased from 77 billion in 2024 to 195 billion in 2025 (+118 billion).
This did not reduce the deficit as much, as spending (particularly to pay down debt) continued to increase.
Source: BFM TV
