© AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Donald Trump tours the nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va., Thursday, March 2, 2017.
The week after the U.S., along with the U.K. and France, launched unilateral strikes against the Syrian government, the Trump administration is rolling out a "Buy American" weapons-selling initiative aimed at allowing other nations to buy even more weapons from U.S.-based arms manufacturers.
According to Reuters,
the initiative, set to be announced today, will speed up the approval of arms deals to U.S. allies and will call for members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, as well as the president himself, to act as "closers" in major arms deals and salesmen for U.S. weapons companies at international air shows and weapons showcases.
"This policy seeks to mobilize the full resources of the United States government behind arms transfers that are in the U.S. national and economic security interest," a White House official
told Reuters. After news of the initiative first broke in the media, U.S. weapons manufacturers made massive gains in the stock market and Raytheon's stock hit an all-time high. In addition to helping the military-industrial complex secure more business, Trump may be pushing the initiative, at least in part, because of
his personal investments in U.S. weapons giants like Raytheon, Boeing and General Electric.
The initiative comes less than a week after the U.S. strikes launched against Syria, and the strikes themselves were likely part of a PR bid to boost U.S. weapons manufacturers and international arms orders leading up to the "Buy American" announcement. In addition, doubts have been raised that the strikes were planned to cause any major damage to the Syrian government, as the Syrian and Russian governments
were allegedly "tipped off" by Trump prior to the attack, and given ample time to prepare by
evacuating nearly all key military hardware.
This suggests that the purpose of the strike was not actually to harm the Syrian government as much as showcase U.S. military might and weaponry in the lead-up to the official announcement of Trump's new weapons selling initiative.
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