Trump 2nd term lifts Biden's pause on Saudi offensive arms sales on day one, resuming unlimited transfers

President Donald Trump signs a national security directive on January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, lifting Biden's pause on offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and resuming the full range of U.S. arms transfers to the kingdom. The directive reverses Biden's human rights conditions and reinstates Trump's first-term approach of treating Saudi Arabia as an unconditional security partner. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the Defense Security Cooperation Agency to process all pending Saudi arms notifications without a human rights review. The resumption includes precision-guided munitions and other offensive systems that Biden had withheld. Congress receives DSCA notifications within weeks; no committee acts to block the transfers.