US weapons sales to foreign governments rose by 33 per cent this year, reflecting the Trump administration’s efforts to coerce and cajole allies into paying more for their own defences to counter Iran, China and Russia, alongside efforts to boost domestic arms manufacturers.
Numbers released on Thursday by the US state department, which authorises big-ticket and high-tech weapons sales, show government-to-government sales rose by nearly $14bn to $55.66bn in the year to October. Such sales are up 80 per cent since October 2016, a month before the presidential election that brought Donald Trump to power.
US officials attributed the growth to concerted pressure by the Trump administration on allies from the EU to South Korea and Japan to pay more for their own defence as part of his “America First” policy.