US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw the US from the international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
Trump made the announcement while addressing the US National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting in Indianapolis.
US President Donald J. Trump holds up an order he signed withdrawing from the Arms Trade treaty at the 2019 National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Leadership Forum at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (EPA-EFE/TANNEN MAURY)
The agreement was signed by Barack Obama in 2013 and aims to regulate the sale of weapons between countries. The ATT was signed by 130 nations in 2013, and officially came into law the following year.
The NRA insists that it amounts to international gun control, and is a threat to the second amendment right to bear arms.
Trump said he would ask the US Senate not to ratify the pact and added that the UN would soon receive formal notice of the US’s withdrawal from the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The US is the world’s top arms exporter. Its weapons sales are 58% higher than those of Russia, the world’s second largest exporter.
In a statement released after Mr Trump’s speech, the White House said the treaty “fails to truly address the problem of irresponsible arms transfers” because other top-10 arms exporters – including Russia and China – have not signed up to it.
