Washington: The White House revealed on Friday that President Donald Trump has signed an executive order prioritizing a new list of customers for U.S. military purchases, giving priority to countries with high defense spending and strategic importance in the region.

According to Thai News Agency, this executive order establishes the "America First Arms Transfer Strategy," marking a significant shift in U.S. arms sales policy. It directs federal agencies to prioritize arms sales to allies with substantial investments in defense capabilities, as well as strategically important nations. The objective is to expedite the delivery of U.S.-made weapons to allies crucial to regional security, while leveraging foreign orders to expand U.S. domestic production capabilities. However, the order does not name any specific countries.

Back in 2025, leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supported a new target for defense spending at 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), reaffirming their commitment to mutual defense against attack. The White House stated in a fact-finding document that future arms sales would be based on U.S. interests, utilizing foreign funding and orders to build manufacturing capabilities and enhance the capacity of American industry.

Under this new strategy, the Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Commerce are tasked with jointly compiling a prioritized list of weapons systems and equipment, and identifying sales opportunities aligned with the strategy's objectives. This abandons the decades-long "first-come, first-served" approach, where shifting priorities to a particular country was historically fraught with cumbersome procedures and regulatory hurdles.

Furthermore, the order mandates the streamlining of redundant administrative procedures, improving the efficiency of final use verification and the transfer of weapons to third parties to reduce delays and increase transparency. The White House explained that the previous approach prioritizing allies resulted in backlog orders and delivery delays due to mismatches between orders and U.S. production capacity. Therefore, shifting focus to countries with high defense spending is an attempt by the government to ensure that arms exports support both national security and the revitalization of the domestic industry simultaneously.