By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. budget deficit totaled $307 billion for President Donald Trump’s first full month in office, up 4%, or $11 billion, from a year ago, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday, even as growth in receipts outpaced that of spending.
The results showed little impact from Trump’s initial import tariffs on major trading partners and his administration’s efforts to slash government spending so far.
Receipts totaled $296 billion in February, a record for that month. That figure was up 9%, or $25 billion, compared with the year-earlier period. But outlays in February totaled $603 billion, also a record for that month. That was up 6%, or $36 billion, from a year earlier.
After calendar adjustments for both receipts and outlays, the adjusted deficit would have been $311 billion, a 3% increase over the figure in February 2024, the Treasury Department said.
The deficit for the first five months of fiscal 2025 came to $1.147 trillion, up 38%, or $318 billion, from a year earlier. Fiscal year-to-date receipts rose 2%, or $37 billion, to a record $1.893 trillion, but outlays grew 13%, or $355 billion, to a record $3.039 trillion.
Including calendar shifts of benefit payments, the adjusted year-to-date deficit would have been $1.063 trillion, an increase of 17%, or $157 billion, from the prior-year period.
EFFECTS OF TARIFFS, DOGE
Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports on Feb. 4, but that increase did not materially impact customs receipts in February, and will likely start showing up in March data, a Treasury official said. Trump increased the extra duty on Chinese goods to 20% on March 4.
Net customs receipts totaled $7.25 billion in February, down from $7.34 billion in January but up from $6.21 billion in February 2024.
The budget results for February also did not show an appreciable change in overall outlays as a result of Trump’s drive to slash the federal workforce and government spending through the informal Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The Department of Education, a major target of DOGE for cuts, saw its outlays fall to $8 billion last month from $14 billion in the year-earlier period, but the Treasury official attributed the decline to reductions in outlays for elementary and secondary education programs.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration is attempting to dismantle, still showed an outlay of $226 million for February, compared to $542 million in the year-earlier period.
Driving the spending growth in February and year-to-date periods were higher spending on Treasury’s interest on the public debt, outlays for Child Tax Credit payments and increased Social Security payments due in part to a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for 2025.
For the year-to-date period, Treasury’s interest costs for the public debt came to $478 billion, up about 10%, or $45 billion, from a year earlier and outstripping military outlays of about $380 billion. Social Security outlays grew 8% to about $663 billion.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)
