WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is nearing completion of a new “BuyAmerican” plan that calls for US military attaches and diplomats to helpdrum up billions of dollars more in business overseas for the Americanweapons industry, going beyond the assistance they currently provide, USofficials said.
President Donald Trump as early as February is expected to announce a“whole of government” effort to ease export rules on purchases by foreigncountries of US-made military equipment, from fighter jets and drones towarships and artillery, according to people familiar with the plan.
Trump is seeking to fulfill a 2016 election campaign promise to create jobsin the United States by selling more goods and services abroad to bringdown the US trade deficit from a six-year high of $50 billion.
The administration is also under pressure from US defense contractorsfacing growing competition from foreign rivals such as China and Russia.
But any loosening of the restrictions on weapons sales would be in defianceof human rights and arms control advocates who said there was too great arisk of fueling violence in regions such as the Middle East and South Asiaor arms being diverted to be used in terrorist attacks.
Besides greater use of a network of military and commercial attachesalready stationed at US embassies in foreign capitals, senior officials whospoke on condition of anonymity said another thrust of the plan will be toset in motion a realignment of the International Trafficking in ArmsRegulations (ITAR).
It is a central policy governing arms exports since 1976 and has not beenfully revamped in more than three decades.
This expanded government effort on behalf of American arms makers, togetherwith looser restrictions on weapons exports and more favorable treatment ofsales to non-NATO allies and partners, could bring additional billions ofdollars in deals and more jobs, a senior US official said, withoutproviding specifics.
The strategy of having the Pentagon and the US State Department take a moreactive role in securing foreign arms deals could especially benefit majordefense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing Company.
“We want to see those guys, the commercial and military attaches,unfettered to be salesmen for this stuff, to be promoters,” said the senioradministration official, who is close to the internal deliberations andspoke on condition of anonymity.
A State Department official, asked to confirm details of the coming newpolicy, said the revamped approach “gives our partners a greater capacityto help share the burden of international security, benefits the defenseindustrial base and will provide more good jobs for American workers.”
The White House and Pentagon declined official comment. Defense industryofficials and lobbyists have privately welcomed what they expect will be amore sales-friendly approach.
It is unclear how deeply the diplomats and military officers overseas willdelve into dealmaking and what guidelines will be established, saidofficials in the administration.
Trump, a Republican, has the legal authority to direct government embassy“security assistance officers,” both military personnel and civilians, todo more to help drive arms sales.
Administration officials see this group, which already has duties such asmanaging military aid overseas and providing information to foreigngovernments for buying US arms, as underutilized by previous presidents.
One national security analyst said that easing export restrictions to allowdefense contractors to reap greater profits internationally would increasethe danger of top-of-the-line US weapons going to governments with poorhuman rights records or being used by militants.
“This administration has demonstrated from the very beginning that humanrights have taken a back seat to economic concerns,” said Rachel Stohl,director of the conventional defense program at the Stimson Center inWashington. “And the short-sightedness of a new arms export policy couldhave serious long-term implications.”
The administration officials said human rights considerations would remainpart of the formula for arms sales decisions. But they said such reviewswould now afford greater weight than before to whether a deal would be goodfor the US economy and strengthen America’s defense industrial base, inwhich case red tape would be cut accordingly.
Rules to make it easier to sell US-made military drones overseas andcompete against fast-growing Chinese and Israeli rivals are also expectedto be in the Trump plan, officials said.
Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, also sought to make it easierto sell to America’s most trusted allies but in a more cautious approachthat his administration billed as a way to boost American business whilekeeping strict controls against more dangerous arms proliferation.
Foreign weapons sales soared during his tenure, with the United Statesretaining its position as the world’s top arms supplier.
Shares of the five biggest US defense contractors, including Lockheed,Boeing, Raytheon Company, General Dynamics Corp and Northrop Grumman havemore than tripled over the last five years and currently trade at or nearall-time highs.
Foreign military sales in fiscal 2017, comprising much of Trump’s firstyear in office and the final months of Obama’s term, climbed to $42billion, compared to $31 billion in the prior year, according to the USDefense Security Cooperation Agency.
Trump administration has already moved forward on several controversialsales. Those include a push for $7 billion in precision-guided munitions toSaudi Arabia despite concerns they have contributed to civilian deaths inthe Saudi campaign in Yemen’s civil war and the unblocking of $3 billion inarms to Bahrain, which was also held up by human rights concerns underObama.
Similar concerns have been raised over the administration’s preparations tomake it easier for American gun makers to sell
small arms, including assault rifles and ammunition, to foreign
buyers.
A draft of the new policy proposals recently finished by inter-agency teamscoordinated by Trump’s National Security Council must now be approved by aselect group of senior cabinet members before being sent to his desk, thegovernment sources said.
Once Trump announces an extensive framework of the plan, there will be a60-day public comment period. After that, the administration is expected tounveil further details. Some of the changes are expected to take the formof what is formally known as a presidential “National Security DecisionDirective,” two of the sources said.