Donald Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on America’s largest defence contractors, threatening to block dividends and share buybacks unless they accelerate weapons production, as he prepares a dramatic expansion of US military spending.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president warned defence firms that he would no longer tolerate what he described as sluggish delivery of military equipment during “troubled and dangerous times”. His comments came ahead of plans to increase the US defence budget for 2027 by 50 per cent, taking annual military spending to $1.5 trillion.
Trump accused defence executives of prioritising shareholder returns and personal remuneration over national security, describing pay packages across the sector as “exorbitant and unjustifiable”. He suggested executive compensation should be capped at $5 million and said companies should redirect capital currently used for dividends and share buybacks into boosting production capacity.
“Military equipment is not being made fast enough,” Trump wrote. “It must be built now with the dividends, stock buybacks and over-compensation of executives, rather than borrowing from financial institutions or getting the money from your government.”
The remarks marked a rare and direct presidential intervention in capital allocation decisions on Wall Street. US defence stocks initially fell sharply in response. Shares in Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX and General Dynamics all declined during afternoon trading. Losses were later pared back after Trump confirmed his intention to significantly raise defence spending.
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