The charged particle transverse momentum (p T) spectra are presented for pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 0.9 $ and 7 TeV. The data samples were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to integrated luminosities of 231 μb−1 and 2.96 pb−1, respectively. Calorimeter-based high-transverse-energy triggers are employed to enhance the statistical reach of the high-p T measurements. The results are compared with leading and next-to-leading order QCD and with an empirical scaling of measurements at different collision energies using the scaling variable $ {x_{\text{T}}} \equiv {{{2{p_{\text{T}}}}} \left/ {{\sqrt {s} }} \right.} $ over the p T range up to 200 GeV/c. Using a combination of x T scaling and direct interpolation at fixed p T, a reference transverse momentum spectrum at $ \sqrt {s} = 2.76 $ TeV is constructed, which can be used for studying high-p T particle suppression in the dense QCD medium produced in heavy-ion collisions at that centre-of-mass energy.