U.S. profited more from Russia-Ukraine war while Trump targets India with 50% tariff

While US President Donald Trump recently imposed a steep 50 percent tariff on most Indian imports to penalize New Delhi over its Russian crude purchases, a new study suggests that Washington itself has gained massively from the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to a report by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), America’s defence industry has experienced ‘explosive’ growth since the conflict began, with the US providing nearly 45 per cent of Ukraine’s total arms imports.

The report highlighted that global military expenditure jumped by 9.4 per cent in 2024 to reach $2.72 trillion, the sharpest annual increase since the Cold War. A large portion of this surge was linked to Ukraine’s war effort, heavily supported by the US defence-industrial base, which has been supplying weapons, ammunition, and equipment to Kyiv while simultaneously restocking American and allied arsenals.

Also Read: PM Modi Speaks To Ukrainian President; Seeks Help In Evacuation Of Indian Students From Sumy

Between 2020 and 2024, Ukraine transformed into the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 8.8 per cent of global imports, up dramatically from just 0.1 per cent in 2015-19, a staggering 9,627 per cent rise. Nearly half of these imports came from the United States, making up 9.3 per cent of total American arms exports during the same period.

In both 2023 and 2024, Ukraine ranked as the top global arms buyer. From 2024 onward, Washington shifted from largely aid-based transfers to direct sales, exemplified by the August 2025 approval of $825 million deal for 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM) missiles, financed by NATO allies and US Foreign Military Financing schemes.

Additionally, the Trump administration pushed NATO allies and Canada to commit over $10 billion in American arms purchases, either to replenish Ukraine-related stockpiles or for direct transfers under the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL). Since July 2025, packages worth nearly $2 billion have been pledged, with contributions from the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Canada.

At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, member states further agreed to raise defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, more than double the long-standing 2 per cent target. 

The ORF study revealed that the US now accounts for 64 per cent of NATO allies’ arms imports (2020-24), up from 52 per cent in the previous five years, and its share of global arms exports has climbed to 43 per cent. 

In 2024 alone, America’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) touched $117.9 billion, a 45.7 per cent rise from 2023, while direct commercial sales jumped 27.6 per cent to $200.8 billion. Within this booming sector of more than 100,000 firms, five giants, Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing, cornered more than a third of all Pentagon contracts.