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Time To Buy European Defense Stocks?
Why now is in fact not the time to rush into European defense company shares
It can’t have escaped notice that Trump torpedoed the credibility of all US defense contractors by ordering the switching off of navigation and radar systems on the the F-16s donated to Ukraine by European NATO members. Yes, despite the fact those aircraft had been bought by European nations, they didn’t actually get to have much say over their use. By this simple spiteful act of infantile petulance, Trump told the world that all US-supplied advanced weapons systems are nothing more than expensive scrap metal. Even for basic systems that only need a reliable flow of spare parts it’s now clear that the USA can never again be relied on to live up to contractual obligations. And that means that Europe’s appetite for US-sourced systems and components has collapsed. From a “let’s buy as much US kit as we can afford to appease Trump” we’ve gone to a “let’s replace our US-sourced equipment as quickly as we can” world.
Trump certainly is a “smart & stable genius.” No part of the US economy will escape his wrecking ball. Putin must be toasting himself with bottles of alcohol-free шампанское night and day.
France meanwhile is enjoying its “I told you so” moment and eyeing up huge future revenues from arms sales to…
