“Why, then, is the — are U.S. deficits and the financial debt increasing at a time when the economy —”Trump jumped in. I stopped it a lot.”You probably noticed that Trump took a question that’s obviously about the federal budget deficit and gave an answer that dealt with the country’s trade deficits. And maybe, in a sense, we’re reducing debt.”There is no sense in which rising stock market valuations reduces the federal debt. The way the federal debt is reduced is either by cutting federal spending or increasing federal revenue, including through raising taxes. As president, Trump has made overtures at the former and rejected the latter, meaning that the nearly $20 trillion debt Trump inherited has now topped $21.5 trillion.

Source: Washington Post February 01, 2019 21:00 UTC