Trump Administration’s Defense Industry : Focusing on Characteristics and Threats

Despite the fact that Donald Trump is being evaluated on the overall defense industry base since he took office, all relevant ministries and major agencies jointly issued an executive order to reevaluate the U.S. manufacturing and defense base. Accordingly, on July 21, 2017, he issued ‘Executive Order No. 13806 related to diagnosis and strengthening to restore the base and supply chain of the US manufacturing and defense industries’. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the core of this executive order is to diagnose the current state of the manufacturing and defense industries in the United States, which are very important in terms of national economy and security, and how to develop and support these industries based on the results. It recommended legislative matters and matters necessary for policy change so that this can be implemented practically. Despite the fact that the US defense industry was evaluated as the world’s strongest, it instructed ZeroBase to re-evaluate and report on measures to maintain defense industry as the “world’s strongest”. According to this report, education and workforce development programs that can contribute to job creation in the manufacturing and defense industries as the number of companies and jobs related to the U.S. manufacturing capacity and defense industry decline, and skilled technology that can make important contributions to national defense weakens. They raised the need to establish policies and take strategic measures, such as weapon system innovation. In this context, this paper analyzes the rapidly changing defense industry environment and measures to overcome threats, centering on President Trump’s executive order, and considers implications for the Korean government and defense industry.