On Friday, February 6, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled America First Arms Transfer Strategy, establishing a new arms export policy that will prioritize countries with the highest defense spending and strengthen the U.S. industrial base for the benefit of the United States and its allies.
Photo: US Department Of Defense
Under the executive order, the sale of arms and military equipment to foreign recipients, primarily through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program conducted via the U.S. government, as well as through Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) directly with manufacturers, must:
- support production capacities that are most operationally critical to the implementation of the National Security Strategy;
- promote domestic reindustrialization and enhance the resilience of the U.S. defense industrial base;
- strengthen critical supply chains;
- prioritize partners that have invested in their own national defense and play a key role in advancing the National Security Strategy.
The order directs the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Commerce to:
- develop a catalog of priority systems that support the objectives of the America First Arms Transfer Strategy;
- strengthen support efforts for arms transfers aligned with the strategy’s goals;
- cooperate with industry to ensure robust collaboration and coordination.
The executive order also establishes a Promoting American Military Sales Task Force, which will oversee implementation of the strategy and monitor major progress in arms sales.
To reduce delays and burdensome bureaucracy, the order instructs the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Commerce to take immediate steps to streamline enhanced end-use monitoring criteria, third-party transfer processes, and congressional notification procedures.
To increase transparency in the arms sales process, the order requires the publication of aggregate quarterly performance metrics on the execution of military equipment sales cases.
According to the White House, the new strategy will leverage record arms sales, estimated at more than 300 billion USD annually, to revitalize the defense industrial base, accelerate deliveries to partners and allies so they can assume greater responsibility for regional security, and promote a more deliberate and transparent approach to arms transfers.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at modernizing the defense procurement process, stimulating innovation within the defense industrial sector, and reducing bureaucracy.
On April 9, 2025, he signed another executive order designed to improve the speed and accountability of the foreign military sales system. On January 7 of this year, he signed an order prohibiting defense companies from prioritizing stock buybacks and excessive corporate distributions over production capacity, innovation, and timely deliveries to the U.S. armed forces.
In the meantime, in June 2025, the U.S. president signed an executive order intended to accelerate the production of American unmanned aerial systems by leveraging the latest innovative industry technologies.