By trying to expand arms sales overseas, the United States government may be contributing to an increase in small arms proliferation globally. Foreign diplomats would essentially act as salesmen for American defense contractors under this new policy. Officials from the Trump administration have said that, however, the already established International Trafficking in Arms Regulation will undergo a overhaul and be a considerable focus as they pursue this arms sales expansion.
Although this move could improve the economy by increasing the inflow of money, it runs the risk of fueling the expansion of illicit small arms trade. Before this plan was announced, arms sales had increased by $11 billion between 2016 and 2017 under Trump’s tenure. The United States’ expansion of sales are meant to compete with foreign competitors who have been leading specific sectors of the arms market. Many are worried, however, that these sales to governments could end up in human rights abuses and/or terrorist attacks, as potentially not all governments are equipped to use maintain arms responsibly. As well, these arms could be overtaken by private citizens and black market sales could ensue. These increased sales have been under scrutiny as some of the countries the United States is selling to, like Saudi Arabia, could use these arms to commit civilian deaths--like in the Yemen Civil War. Given these claims, the Trump administration has assured that such potential consequences would be taken into account when engaging in any arms transactions.
The delegation of Germany condemns this action because it feels that it will give the opportunity for these arms to end up on the black market. The UN is currently trying to end the trade of illicit SALW, and one of the main sources these illegal weapons are coming from are black markets. Potential threats that can come out of this include their usage in militias and terrorist groups, as well as the disruption of peace. This increases pressures on relief and humanitarian workers who aid in conflicts taking place in the countries the Trump administration plan on selling weapons to.
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