How do debt increases during Biden's term compare to debt growth under Donald Trump 2017–2021?

1. What the headline numbers mean: gross debt vs. debt held by the public

Analysts cite at least two common metrics: gross federal debt (the face value of Treasury securities) and debt held by the public (what private investors, foreign holders, and others own). The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) reports gross federal debt grew roughly $7.8 trillion on Trump’s watch and about $7.0 trillion on Biden’s so far; CRFB also says debt held by the public rose $5.9 trillion in Trump’s first 3 years 5 months versus $6.0 trillion during Biden’s comparable period ^[1]. Because different measures capture different parts of financing (intra‑government holdings like Social Security trust funds inflate “gross” totals), the choice of metric materially changes the story ^[1].

2. Why timing and the pandemic warp simple comparisons

Much of the large rise in debt during the Trump years was concentrated around the COVID recession ^[4] and the emergency relief enacted then; pandemic measures enacted in 2020–21 added trillions and their budgetary effects span multiple presidencies. CRFB and other analysts therefore produce “with‑and‑without‑COVID” estimates: when you exclude pandemic relief, CRFB finds Trump’s non‑pandemic fiscal borrowing roughly double Biden’s non‑pandemic additions ($4.8 trillion vs. $2.2 trillion) — showing that policy choices aside from emergency relief point to different contributions ^{[1] [5]}.

3. “Approved ten‑year borrowing” and partisan claims

CRFB also measures how much each president “approved” in new ten‑year borrowing through legislation and executive actions, a method that attributes projected ten‑year costs to administrations. Using that method CRFB estimated Trump authorized about $8.4 trillion of ten‑year borrowing in his four years and Biden about $4.7 trillion in his four years — a statistic embraced by some commentators to argue Trump drove larger long‑term obligations, while others dispute the framing and attribution ^{[1] [3]}.

4. Other reputable tallies and differing totals

Treasury “Debt to the Penny” and journalists’ counts sometimes show different totals — for example, Investopedia cited a roughly $8.4 trillion increase during Biden’s four years using Treasury series ^[2], and several outlets report Trump added about $6.7–8.2 trillion depending on start/end dates and whether one uses fiscal‑year or calendar‑date comparisons ^{[6] [7]}. The result: headline dollar amounts range widely across respected sources because of methodology differences ^{[2] [6]}.

5. Debt as a share of GDP and the macro context

CRFB notes debt‑to‑GDP rose about 23 percentage points under Trump and has been “relatively flat” under Biden — but CRFB says that pattern is largely driven by the timing of the recession and later inflation’s impact on nominal GDP, not purely by policy ^[1]. That highlights a key point: economic growth, inflation, and interest rates change the ratio even if nominal debt keeps climbing ^[1].

6. Political framing, critiques, and counterclaims

Both parties use these figures selectively. The House Budget Committee and conservative commentators argue rising interest costs and executive actions under Biden increased deficits and stress the surge in interest spending; they frame Biden’s record as worse on deficits when excluding pandemic distortions ^{[8] [9]}. Conversely, analysts such as CRFB and The Hill emphasize that much of the Trump increases were pandemic‑related and that, excluding those emergency measures, Trump’s legislative footprint still added more in some CRFB calculations ^{[1] [5]}. These competing framings reflect different implicit agendas: assigning blame to policy choices versus exceptional events.

7. What to watch and why conclusions differ

If you want to compare presidents fairly, pick and state your metric: gross debt vs. debt held by the public; full‑term totals vs. “approved ten‑year borrowing”; and whether to exclude pandemic legislation. CRFB’s analysis shows Trump’s full term had a larger gross increase and more approved ten‑year borrowing, while Treasury‑based tallies and other outlets sometimes produce higher Biden totals depending on date cutoffs ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Available sources do not mention a single universally accepted figure that resolves all methodological disputes.

Bottom line: data agree debt rose substantially under both presidents, but how much more (and why) depends entirely on the chosen metric and whether analysts isolate pandemic relief, project ten‑year costs, or use Treasury snapshots — all distinctions present in current reporting ^{[1] [3] [5]}.