How the Commerce Department plans to win more foreign defense sales

The US Department of Commerce has outlined its strategic plan to increase foreign defense sales under President Trump's America First Arms Transfer Strategy (AFATS), established by an Executive Order in February 2026. The plan aims to streamline advocacy efforts and speed up the foreign military sales process, which has been too slow to meet global demand. Since Trump took office, US government advocacy has helped secure 176 signed contracts worth $318 billion, supporting over one million American jobs. The strategy identifies four concrete priorities, including reforming defense advocacy policy by simplifying approval processes with a single standard operating procedure, a new decision clock, and an exceptions process for cases that don't meet traditional foreign competition requirements. The Commerce Department argues that foreign defense sales lower per-unit costs, keep production lines active, support the American warfighter, and fund R&D to maintain America's technological edge.