Trump Moves To Withdraw U.S. From U.N. Arms Trade Treaty
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/26/7175477
President Trump effectively “unsigned” an international arms sales agreement Friday, moving to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty. The agreement sets global standards for regulating transfers of conventional arms, from rifles to tanks and airplanes.
The treaty, known as the ATT, has been in effect since late 2014. The U.S. signed on to the agreement in 2013 but has not ratified the treaty.
The U.S. withdrawal had been expected. Trump made it official at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis, pulling out a pen onstage and signing a paper that he said would take back the Obama administration’s signature on behalf of the U.S.
The ATT has long been a target of the NRA, which claimed it would harm U.S. gun owners. Trump echoed that criticism on Friday, calling the ATT a threat to Second Amendment rights. “We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy,” Trump was quoted as saying, in a White House statement announcing the change.
The White House says Trump will ask the Senate to return the amendment to the executive branch rather than consider it for ratification.
After Trump signed the order, he threw his pen into the crowd, NPR’s Tim Mak reports.
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