Trump is forcing U.S. companies to manufacture more weaponry

The president invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate munitions production as Hegseth pitched lawmakers on $350 billion to replenish stockpiles.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is using his executive authority to force defense companies to quickly produce more weaponry as his administration presses lawmakers to pass additional defense spending to replenish stockpiles depleted during the U.S.-led war with Iran.

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Trump quietly invoked the Defense Production Act last week to address rising concerns within his administration about the shortfall of munitions, according to a memo filed in the Federal Register on Tuesday.

“I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” Trump wrote in a June 11 memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Production constraints and supply chain concerns “may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense,” he wrote.