American defense companies plan European production shift to bypass US weapons restrictions

American defense companies plan European production shift to bypass US weapons restrictions



by notbatmanyet

27 comments

  1. A minor problem being that no European arms company is going to touch US arms companies or technology with a 10 meter bargepole, because it would lock them out of EU arms procurement.

    ITAR is now the kiss of death to any weapons purchases, and it doesn’t matter where the weapons are manufactured.

    No US weapons, no US components, no US software, and no US involvement.

  2. Business will move where the market is if need be.

  3. If they allow technology transfers. Local hiring. And abide by EU law and give us a weaponnthat cannot be influenced by mother Washington..

    Then great, welcome!

    But i have a feeling they wont do that..

  4. They might have to if they want to keep doing business with Europe

  5. Ok……why?

    Every US defence company is just one *Executive Order* away from being ordered not to supply spare parts, or withhold vital software updates. Both events are a kill-switch in all but name.

    Why would any nation in Europe risk that?

  6. I suspect somebody is going to throw a massive tantrum if U.S. arm manufacturers shift some of their production to Europe.

  7. Ok I don’t understand why would the US companies do this. What if the European countries ask for a tech transfer? Would US congress be happy with that? I wouldn’t be surprised if the US government block this for “National Security” concerns.

  8. I wonder if any of them are considering moving head office, R&D and all, from the US to become EU operating companies who also manufacture at their US subsidiary? It’s safe to assume that without an export market, many of the products they develop are going to struggle to break even. Especially if their former European customers end up marketing alternatives to third countries on a large scale and are deemed to be politically more reliable than MAGA USA. After all, look what happened to US civilian aviation industry when the Europeans united to form Airbus.

  9. that’s what eurpean companies do in usa so they can be choose. tons of examples of it

  10. Aren’t some us weapons systems already made in part overseas when they are made for the over seas markets?

  11. Why buy American when the sweetener (aka American security) isn’t part of the deal anymore?

  12. Crazy!

    Seems to me and that this is the exact opposite of what Trump’s tariff war is supposed to do – American companies are literally offshoring their production because of Trump.

  13. Expect to see this for much of our exports. But also expect to see the reverse, where foreign companies set up a the most minimal production necessary here to avoid import taxes.

    So will our faux imports outweigh our faux exports, that is to say will the number of American jobs we gain from foreign products produced in America outweigh the number of American jobs lost due to moving manufacturing out?

    Turns out our import:export ratio is about 1.24. However, the average pay here is far more than what a foreign worker would make.

  14. Hello (to the right-minded part of) America! It’s not enough for us Europeans to believe you yet, but you’re starting to sound normal again

  16. But come on, what will trump do? He’ll block those companies getting American military contracts…

  17. It’s only to avoid EU tariffs. This is the way. Setup shop overseas and wallah !!!
    Tit for tat politics right ?

  19. I’m sure some of the smaller ones will make that transition, but I find it hard to imagine that it would work out for the big contractors.

  20. Makes sense US is scaling back on military spending and EU is ramping up military spending.

  22. Corporations do not have any national loyalty. They will make decisions based on their own bottom lines not what is good for a designated country.

  23. I mean if Europe is gullible enough to believe that these US arms manufacturers have independence and won’t switch off their systems if the US gov requests it…then go ahead.

    Otherwise it’s just the same shit in a different box.

  24. They could make factories for spare parts for equipment already in use.

  25. This shift could significantly impact European defense capabilities and autonomy.

  26. Just according to Trump/Putins keikaku. Raise tariffs and move manufacturing to Europe. 

  27. Wasn’t one of the selling points of Trump’s tarriffs that companies will be forced to move production from outside the US into the US ro create more jobs there? I’m so glad that as usual, far-right economic policy is proving absolutely clueless and is having the opposite effect to what was intended. This also demonstrates that coordinated boycotts of American goods and services are working, despite naysayers’ desperate claims to the contrary.

Comments are closed.