OREANDA-NEWS. The US administration was forced to reorganize the country's armed forces and increase military spending, including because of Russia and China. This opinion was expressed on Monday by US President Donald Trump.

"We achieved record funding for the US Armed Forces - $ 700 billion last year, $ 716 billion this year, $ 738 billion next. We had no choice, we had to rebuild our troops because of everything that happens today with China, Russia , radical Islam, with everything. We had to do something", said the American leader, speaking to supporters in North Carolina. The event was broadcast by C-Span.

According to Trump, the country's armed forces were "completely depleted". "Now we have excellent fifth-generation F-35 fighter-bombers, F-18 fighters, new ships, new missiles, we have everything new", the American leader added. At the beginning of the last century, military spending in the United States reached 1% of the country's GDP. During World War I, they increased to 20% of GDP, and during World War II averaged 31.8% of GDP. In 1945, $ 82 billion was spent on defense ($ 1.1 trillion in terms of today's prices).

In 1989, under President Ronald Reagan, the military budget exceeded $ 303 billion (617 billion in current prices). In the 1990s, when the White House was led by Bill Clinton, about $ 270 billion a year was spent on defense. Under George W. Bush, military spending more than doubled due to operations in Afghanistan (since October 2001) and Iraq (since March 2003).

In 2016, under Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, $ 607 billion was allocated for military needs, and for 2017 - $ 619 billion (approximately 3.2% of GDP). Experts note that the reduction in the military budget has a positive effect on international relations and allows the country to focus on other issues.