Germany’s Ban on Arms Exports to Saudis Over Khashoggi Murder Have Growing Impact

Ban on German parts are limiting sales by other European companies

In October, Germany announced a halt on all arms exports to Saudi Arabia related to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At the time, this announcement was scoffed at, as Germany’s direct exports to Saudi Arabia are comparatively small.

In retrospect, this was a lot more than just a symbolic measure, as a number of European companies are starting to warn that the German ban is impacting some of their major sales, because they involved products that contain German-made parts.

Germany’s reach is far greater than expected. Eurofighteer Typhoon warplanes are partly produced in Germany. Certain air-to-air missiles the Saudis want are also unavailable, as they are produced by an Airbus subsidiary, and Airbus is partly owned by the German government.

It could also impact past sales, as the Saudis have a lot of European-made fighters, and those fighters may need replacement parts, but many of those parts have German-made components.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.