Karina Bovsunovska14:21, 02.04.25

The White House has not yet responded to this information.

The Trump administration is considering an executive order that would loosen rules governing the export of military equipment and could announce it soon, four sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters . 

They said the executive order would likely be similar to legislation proposed by Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Walz, last year when he was a Republican member of the House of Representatives.

At the same time, the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Reuters noted that the order could boost sales for major US defense contractors, such as: 

• Lockheed Martin (LMT.N),
• RTX Corp (RTX.N),
• Boeing Co (BA.N).

“If it becomes law, the bill supported by Voltz in 2024 would amend the U.S. Arms Export Control Act by increasing the minimum dollar amounts that trigger Congressional review of arms exports to other countries. They would increase to $23 million from $14 million for arms transfers and to $83 million from $50 million for sales of military equipment, modernization, training, and other services,” the material explained.

However, Reuters added that for NATO members, as well as close US partners such as Australia, Israel, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, the thresholds are higher. For these transactions, Congress must be notified 15 days in advance of the transfer, compared to 30 days for most other countries.

What preceded this?

During his first term, Trump repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with members of Congress holding up arms sales to foreign nations due to human rights concerns or other issues. 

In particular, in 2019, the US president angered many lawmakers when he declared a national emergency over tensions with Iran. This allowed Trump to overturn a long-standing precedent of Congressional review of major arms sales and complete more than $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan. 

At the time, members of Congress blocked the sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for several months, as they were outraged by the civilian casualties caused by the air campaign in Yemen and human rights violations. 

(c)UNIAN 2025