U.S. to skirt pact, allow drone sales

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Friday that it would allow the sale of advanced armed drones to other nations and bypass part of an international weapons export control agreement that the United States helped forge more than three decades ago.

Administration officials have been debating for years over how to sell armed drones despite clauses in the agreement, known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, that prevent its 35 members from doing so. The administration announced in 2018 that it was expanding drone sales, but has not been able to do so because of the limits set by the deal.

The agreement is not legally binding and is treated as an understanding among its member nations.

But bypassing one part of the pact could undermine the agreement in general and encourage other nations to selectively ignore or reinterpret clauses that they find inconvenient. The Trump administration has withdrawn from several major international agreements that previous administrations had negotiated with world powers, including the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal.

R. Clarke Cooper, the assistant secretary for political-military affairs in the State Department, said Friday afternoon that the U.S. was invoking its “national discretion” to bypass the limits in the arms control agreement on sales of large drones. He said the policy had been approved by President Donald Trump and was effective immediately.

He added that the U.S. would look at each proposed sale on a case-by-case basis and “continue conducting robust review procedures.”

Some U.S. officials have been frustrated by the export ban on large drones, including Peter Navarro, a White House trade adviser who advocates greater arms sales, as well as aides on the National Security Council and Pentagon officials who help oversee arms exports.

They argue that American companies must be able to sell the large drones to compete with China, which is not a member of the arms control agreement.

The State Department did not return an email seeking comment.

Some lawmakers have been concerned about the years-long effort among administration officials to bypass the ban. Several Middle Eastern nations are eager to buy drones capable of carrying large payloads.