Trump is reportedly set to relax U.S. ban on land mines

(Image credit: Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

published 31 January 2020

President Trump will announce as early as Friday that he will undo restrictions on using or acquiring land mines enacted by former President Barack Obama in 2014, two U.S. officials tell Reuters. Obama had moved to stop all U.S. production and acquisition of anti-personnel mines, including to replace degraded stockpiles. The U.S. is not among the more than 160 signatories to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, but it adheres to many of its provisions and prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines outside of the Korean peninsula, Reuters says.

"The resumption of the use of anti-personnel land mines and continued stockpiling and production of these indiscriminate weapons is militarily unnecessary and dangerous," said Daryl Kimball at the Arms Control Association. The U.S. hasn't used land mines since a single anti-personnel mine in Afghanistan in 2002, Kimball's group says, and the last time the U.S. military used mines in any significant way was in the 1991 Gulf War.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.