Global arms trade unleashed under Trump

Lockheed Martin F-35 is a big-ticket item

William D. Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, has written an important and disturbing article about the global export of weapons—both military and civilian—from the United States under the Trump administration. The large-scale expansion of the arms trade, Hartung explains, is being enthusiastically promoted by the weapons manufacturers, the gun lobby, the Pentagon’s “arms sales division,” and Trump himself.

“American weapons makers have dominated the global arms trade for decades. In any given year, they’ve accounted for somewhere between one-third and more than one-half the value of all international weapons sales. It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse — or better, if you happen to be an arms trader — but they could, and soon, if a new Trump rule on firearms exports goes through.

“…Until recently, the Trump administration had focused its arms sales policies on the promotion of big-ticket items like fighter planes, tanks, and missile defense systems around the world. Trump himself has loudly touted US weapons systems just about every time he’s had the chance, whether amid insults to allies at the recent NATO summit or at a chummy White House meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose brutal war in Yemen is fueled by US-supplied arms.

“A recent presidential export policy directive, in fact, specifically instructsAmerican diplomats to put special effort into promoting arms sales, effectively turning them into agents for the country’s largest weapons makers.”

The full article is at tom dispatch.com.