Trump touts NATO defence boom for US

Ankara, July 8 (IANS) President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a surge in NATO defence spending was fuelling a manufacturing boom in the United States, with European allies increasingly buying American-made weapons and major defence companies expanding production to meet unprecedented global demand.

Addressing a news conference after the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said alliance members had embraced a new benchmark of spending five per cent of gross domestic product on defence, creating what he described as a historic opportunity for the US defence industry.

“As a result of the commitment we achieved last year, defence spending of other NATO members surged by almost $150 billion in 2025, and much of that money is being spent on American-made equipment,” Trump said.

He said demand for US military equipment had reached record levels as European countries modernise their armed forces.

“They all want American-made equipment. We’re pushing very hard to have the defence companies… We make the best equipment. The Patriots and the Tomahawks and everything we have is considered to be the best.”

Trump said leading US defence manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, were expanding production capacity after years of relying on overtime to meet demand.

“They were doing literally 24 hours to get the Tomahawks done and the Patriots done and all of the other defensive and offensive equipment done,” he said.

“I said, that’s not the way to do it. You have to build more plants.”

According to Trump, the administration expects the production backlog for major weapons systems to shrink dramatically.

“We think within a year, year and a half, max, instead of waiting for a year or two years, we’ll be having it on a two-week wait, maybe a one-week wait,” he said.

The President announced several new defence industry initiatives unveiled during the NATO summit.

“Today at the summit, we announced $3 billion of new defence investments with US companies,” Trump said.

He said Lockheed Martin would establish “a world-class Patriot missile sustainment facility” in Europe, while Northrop Grumman would move forward with “the sale of advanced American drone technology.”

Trump also announced that Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall would partner to build Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), while Anduril would produce its new Barracuda missile system for Poland.

“I think all of these agreements directly benefit the US defence industry base and what it really does is… jobs,” he said.

Trump argued that NATO’s higher defence spending would continue to generate employment and investment across the United States.

“We’ll be taking in over $1 trillion a year toward defence,” he said, adding that many allied governments preferred US-built equipment because “it works better.”

He said expanding manufacturing capacity had become a priority as global demand accelerated.

“With the plants that are being built, the defence plants… it’s incredible,” Trump said, noting that some manufacturers were building three, four or five new production facilities that would “quadruple the output” of missiles, munitions and other military systems.

–IANS

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