US Still World’s Top Arms Dealer As Sales Climb

America is still the world’s largest arms dealing nation with figures now showing that over the last five years Washington has seen its share of the global arms trade grow to 37% says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

Featuring prominently behind the leap are exports to the Middle East region – the area also showing the largest import increase.

Speaking to the global media, Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at Sipri said “It is too early to say whether the period of rapid growth in arms transfers of the past two decades is over,” adding “(T)he 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.”

Whilst not quite at the levels seen in the Cold War era, sales of weapons and ammunition around the world have stayed stable since around 2016 according to the report.

Of the total US arms exports, 47% was sent to Middle East nations with Saudi Arabia the largest buyer taking 24% of US arms exports.

Almost 100 other nations around the world are also on Washington’s list of clients in terms of arms deals, although France and Germany are doing their best to catch up.

Paris and Berlin both saw sales of arms on the international markets jump considerably with French exports alone up by 44%.

C: Jay Rembert – Unsplash

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.