The Trump administration has made increasing American arms sales abroad a key part of both its national security and economic strategies; that coincided with a major reform package of the FMS process, with the explicit goal of making it easier for friendly nations to procure American military goods. That policy change, known as the Conventional Arms Transfer policy, or CAT, includes loosening International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrictions on exports and pushing more sales through the Direct Commercial Sales process, which is less labor intensive. Other policies targeted at encouraging partners to buy American goods, including dropping surcharges on products and lowering the cost of transportation for weapons, are also underway, with the head of Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, leading the charge. Late Thursday evening, In September, Thompson predicted that 2019’s numbers would eclipse 2018’s $55.6 billion in foreign weapons sales. However, there have been no notifications to Congress of new arms sales since the shutdown began, and her comments Thursday put the brakes on such a prediction. Still, she did indicate a belief that the FMS reforms mean her team can make up lost time more easily than in past years.
Trump made increasing American arms sales abroad a key part of both its national security and economic strategies coincided with a major reform package of the FMS process, with the explicit goal of making it easier for friendly nations to procure American military goods. That policy change, known CAT includes loosening International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrictions on exports and pushing more sales through the Direct Commercial Sales process Other policies targeted at encouraging partners to buy American goods including d lowering the cost of weapons are underway Thompson predicted that 2019’s numbers would eclipse 2018’s $55.6 billion a belief that the FMS reforms mean her team can make up lost time more easily than in past years