Trump Signs 'America First' Strategy to Recast U.S. Arms Sales

Overview

• The executive order directs the Pentagon, State Department and Commerce Department to develop an America First Arms Transfer Strategy that actively steers what allied nations buy from the United States.
• Agencies must deliver within 120 days a catalog of prioritized U.S. defense platforms that partners will be encouraged to acquire.
• Priority goes to recipients that invest in their own defense, sit in key geographies, support U.S. operational plans or bolster America’s economic security.
• The order seeks faster approvals and stronger safeguards by streamlining processes, clarifying end‑use monitoring and reviewing third‑party transfer rules, with protection of U.S. readiness and critical supply chains explicitly emphasized.
• House Foreign Affairs leaders praised the move as strengthening the defense industrial base, as coverage also notes the policy’s release alongside ongoing U.S.–India defense trade discussions.