EU slams Trump's withdrawal from UN arms trade deal signed by Obama

The European Union warned on Saturday that US President Donald Trump's rejection of a UN treaty designed to regulate the global arms trade would hamper the global fight against illicit weapons trafficking, Agence France-Presse.

"A decision by the US to revoke its signature would not contribute to the ongoing efforts to encourage transparency in the international arms trade, to prevent illicit trafficking and to combat the diversion of conventional arms," said the EU's chief diplomat, Federica Mogherini.

"The EU will continue to call on all states, and in particular the major arms exporters and importers, to join the Arms Trade Treaty without delay," she said.

Trump announced on Friday that his country is withdrawing from an international arms trade treaty signed by the Obama administration, marking Washington's latest move to quit an international pact, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Trump made the announcement while attending an annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, or NRA, in the US city of Indianapolis, saying that he will be revoking US status as a signatory to the pact supported by the United Nations.

"We're taking our signature back," Trump told the audience. He also noted that the UN will soon receive formal notice of the US withdrawal.

The Arms Trade Treaty, or ATT, which regulates international trade in conventional weapons from small arms to military aircraft, was approved by the UN General Assembly in 2013. It was signed by former president Barack Obama but has not been ratified by Senate.

The White House said later in a statement that Trump will ask the Senate to return it.

The White House claimed the pact is "misguided" and constrains US ability to sell arms to its allies and partners.

A senior US government official told reporters on Friday that Washington is also concerned that the treaty is opening for amendment in 2020.

"There are significant concerns about proposals that are out there in discussion ... for how to use that amendment period to further constrain what countries like the United States might do to undermine our sovereignty," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in teleconference briefing.

"The US already has significant controls in place to regulate our conventional arms transfers," the official added.

The Trump administration's new move has sparked criticism. The US will now behave as a non-signatory to the "treaty whose sole purpose is to protect innocent people from deadly weapons," Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a global organization on poverty reduction, told US media.

Since Trump took office in 2017, the US has retreated from several global treaties, including the landmark Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal.

(China Daily 04/29/2019 page12)