FARNBOROUGH — The Department of Commerce is dedicated to increased advocacy for the US defense industry in order to push for greater sales abroad amidst international competition, key department officials told Breaking Defense.
William Kimmett, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, acknowledged during an interview at the Farnborough Airshow last week that he has heard directly from US industry that there are concerns that Europe’s increased defense spending will trend towards non-American products.
“Yeah, we’re hearing that, and we’re hearing not just competition from within Europe, but also competition from Asia as well in Europe,” Kimmett said. “But we we of course think we have the best products to offer. We want to work with partners and allies in Europe, but that’s certainly something that’s come up.”
To help counter that, Commerce has stepped up its role in advocating for US firms — quite literally, helping spread the message to other countries that they should be looking at specific potential defense procurements.
“What I’m hearing is [industry] very much want to help, and sort of help us understand what would be helpful to them,” Kimmett said.
