How the Trump Administration Can Limit China’s Arms Exports

Mar 21, 2025

Also published in War on the Rocks
About the Authors
Grant Rumley
Grant Rumley

Grant Rumley is the Meisel-Goldberger Senior Fellow and Director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Articles & Testimony

Using a combination of bilateral and multilateral tools, Washington can curtail China’s ability to produce and export quality weapons while pressuring governments who consider buying them.

Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine has altered the global arms market in ways not seen since the end of the Cold War, creating challenges and opportunities for arms exporters and importers alike. Russian arms exports are down, global defense spending is up, and alternative arms exporters are keen to take advantage of this new market reality. For countries that previously relied on Russia to equip their militaries, these are perilous times. Some have complained about a lack of spare parts while others have been asked to sell back kit to Moscow. One beneficiary of this new dynamic is China, which can offer legacy purchasers of Russian kit options from a similar family of equipment. And Beijing has ample motivation to capitalize on this turn of events, as increasing arms revenue is key to China’s goal of military modernization...

Read the full article at the War on the Rocks website.

To top

Recommended