Trump signs order to ease weapons exports

Agencies WASHINGTON

American President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for a review of rules governing exports of military equipment, as he seeks to make it easier for US defence firms to sell their products abroad. "We're unable to provide weapons systems in a reliable, effective way to key allies of ours, and the key driver of that is inefficiencies and inconsistencies with the process by which we approve foreign military sales," White House aide Will Scharf said at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

"So this executive order is going to direct your Department of Defence, Department of State, other relevant departments and agencies, to rework our system of foreign defense sales to ensure that we can provide equipment creating American jobs and providing obviously revenue to American defense manufacturers, but provide key military equipment to our key allies in a reliable, effective way," he said.

Reuters reported on April 1 that Trump was planning an order that would ease rules governing exports of military equipment, similar to legislation proposed by Michael Waltz, his national security advisor, last year when he was a Republican member of the House of Representatives. The order could increase sales for big US defence contractors like Lockheed Martin . Currently, the US Arms Export Control Act gives Congress the right to review arms exports to other countries, depending on how close an ally a country is and the size of the planned sale.

During his first term, Trump often expressed frustration with members of Congress delaying foreign arms sales over human rights or other concerns. Trump also signed an order on Wednesday launching a general review of procurement programmes at the Department of Defence. "With this executive order, we're going to be modernizing the procurement structure the Department of Defence uses to allow it to more quickly adapt to changing circumstances around the world," Scharf said. "And we're also going to be launching a review of existing procurement programmes to ensure that we're getting value for the money, to ensure that we're getting the best possible systems in the field," Scharf said.