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China to raise defense spending by 7.2% in 2025

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3 months ago

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China’s navy showed off its J-15T fighter jet at the 2024 Zhuhai Air Show on Nov. 12, 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

China on Wednesday increased its defense spending by 7.2% this year, the same growth rate as in the prior two years, as Beijing seeks to “firmly safeguard” its national security.

In an official government report due to be released in parliament, China proposed a national defense budget of 1.78 trillion yuan ($244.99 billion) for the 2025 fiscal year.

The increased defense budget, well above China’s economic growth target for this year of roughly 5%, comes as Western governments seek to ratchet up military spending to bolster their own security.

The European Union announced Tuesday that it could mobilize as much as 800 billion euros ($841 billion) to shore up support for Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion. The move followed reports that the U.S. had abruptly paused military aid to Ukraine.

China budgeted a 7.2% increase in defense spending to 1.67 trillion yuan last year, the same growth rate as in the prior year. Beijing had increased spending by 7.1% in 2022 and 6.8% in 2021, according to official data.

When asked on Tuesday about China’s defense spending, Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress, told reporters that “peace needs to be safeguarded with strength.”

That’s according to an official translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.

China’s defense expenditure as share of GDP has been held under 1.5% for many years, Lou said, adding that this rate of spending is lower than the global average.

China remains the world’s second largest military spender behind the U.S. which has set the military budget for 2025 at $850 billion.

Separately, expenditures earmarked for public security this year was raised by 7.3%, the official statement showed, a sharp increase compared with the 1.4% rise last year.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.

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Trump CFPB cuts reviewed by Fed inspector general

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June 12, 2025

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Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

The Federal Reserve’s inspector general is reviewing the Trump administration’s attempts to lay off nearly all Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees and cancel the agency’s contracts, CNBC has learned.

The inspector general’s office told Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., that it was taking up their request to investigate the moves of the consumer agency’s new leadership, according to a June 6 letter seen by CNBC.

“We had already initiated work to review workforce reductions at the CFPB” in response to an earlier request from lawmakers, acting Inspector General Fred Gibson said in the letter. “We are expanding that work to include the CFPB’s canceled contracts.”

The letter confirms that key oversight arms of the U.S. government are now examining the whirlwind of activity at the bureau after Trump’s acting CFPB head Russell Vought took over in February. Vought told employees to halt work, while he and operatives from Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency sought to lay off most of the agency’s staff and end contracts with external providers.

That prompted Warren and Kim to ask the Fed inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to review the legality of Vought’s actions and the extent to which they hindered the CFPB’s mission. The GAO told the lawmakers in April that it would examine the matter.

“As Trump dismantles vital public services, an independent OIG investigation is essential to understand the damage done by this administration at the CFPB and ensure it can still fulfill its mandate to work on the people’s behalf and hold companies who try to cheat and scam them accountable,” Kim told CNBC in a statement.

The Fed IG office serves as an independent watchdog over both the Fed and the CFPB, and has the power to examine agency records, issue subpoenas and interview personnel. It can also refer criminal matters to the Department of Justice.

Soon after his inauguration, Trump fired more than 17 inspectors general across federal agencies. Spared in that purge was Michael Horowitz, the IG for the Justice Department since 2012, who this month was named the incoming watchdog for the Fed and CFPB.

Horowitz, who begins in his new role at the end of this month, was reportedly praised by Trump supporters for uncovering problems with the FBI’s handling of its probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Meanwhile, the fate of the CFPB hinges on a looming decision from a federal appeals court. Judges temporarily halted Vought’s efforts to lay off employees, but are now considering the Trump administration’s appeal over its plans for the agency.

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