US responsible for 36 per cent of global arms sales

Although the pandemic could see countries reassess arms deals, a rise in Middle East imports raises concerns for human rights

The United States is responsible for 36 per cent of all global arms sales, following a more than 20 per cent growth for the past five years.

A Stockholm-based research institute found that from 2015 to 2019, the US accounted for 36 per cent of all conventional weapons sales — increasing 23 per cent on the previous five years.

The figure put the US far ahead of the second biggest arms trader, Russia, who saw an 18 per cent fall in its share of world arms sales for the same five year period.

The remainder of the five biggest arms dealers — China, France, and Germany — accounted for roughly 19.2 per cent of arms sales, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), who compiled the report.

It also revealed that world arms sales were 20 per cent higher than in 2005–2009 — raising concerns that current weapons trading is close to that seen towards the end of the cold war.

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"It is too early to say whether the period of rapid growth in arms transfers of the past two decades is over," said Pieter Wezeman, a senior SPIRI researcher.

"The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years.”

"However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms," Mr Wezeman added, in comments made to the BBC.

Of concern are the implications of the United States’s arms sales to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, which recorded the fastest growth in regional arms imports.

The US was responsible for 73 per cent of all arms imported by Saudia Arabia, a country accused of human rights abuses, for the five year period, according to SPRIRI.

It was thought to include deals for combat aircraft and other weapons that were signed-off by former president Barack Obama as far back as 2010, Forbes reported.

Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan, were more recently the beneficiaries of action taken by former US president Donald Trump, who stopped Congress from blocking $8.1 billion (£6.9 billion) worth of “emergency” arms for the three Middle Eastern countries.

While the regions reliance on the US and other western countries for arms imports could also prove to be a leverage point for the Biden administration in future, the White House reportedly froze its deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE while a review is carried-out into the sales in January, the Wall Street Journal reported.

US president Joe Biden, speaking to King Salman of Saudi Arabia a month later, "affirmed the importance" the US "places on universal human rights and the rule of law", according to the White House at the time.