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'Trump withdrawal from UN Arms Trade Treaty PR disaster for US'

Saturday, 27 April 2019 3:56 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 April 2019 4:02 PM ]

US President Donald Trump speaks during the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting on April 26, 2019, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by AFP)

President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty will be a PR disaster, says an analyst, adding that it means that Washington will be free to sell arms to any “repugnant” country.

“Trump does not want to be impeded. He does not want any constraints on him when he concludes arms deals around the world principally with countries such as Saudi Arabia, other [Persian] Gulf countries and Israel and we know that Donald Trump in his first few months in the White House signed an arms deal with Saudi Arabia to the tune of approximately 500 billion dollars and many of those weapons that the Americans started supplying to Saudi Arabia are being used in Yemen against civilians including children,” Marcus Papadopoulos, editor of Politics First told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

“So by pulling out of this arms treaty it means that America under Mr. Trump will be free to sell weapons and to make vast amounts of money to any country in the world no matter how repugnant that country is. There will be no constraints on America going forward,” he added.

President Donald Trump has said he would pull the United States out of the United Nations' Arms Trade Treaty which sets global standards for regulating transfers of conventional arms.

The agreement, known as the ATT, was signed by former President Barack Obama in 2013 but opposed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other conservative groups.

Around 100 countries have officially signed the treaty so far, and another 29, including the US, have signed it, but not yet formally joined.