"Defense companies are not producing our great military equipment fast enough and, once it is produced, they are not maintaining it properly," the president wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said he would therefore not allow stock dividends or share buybacks from defense companies, he said, without further explaining what such a ban would look like.
Additionally, top defense industry executives should not be allowed to earn more than $5 million, according to Trump, until they build what he calls "new and modern production facilities."
Several leading US defense companies plunged on Wall Street after the announcement. Northrop Grumman, which manufactures bombers, fell 5.5 percent, and fighter-jet manufacturer Lockheed Martin fell 4.8 percent.
In a later post, published after the New York Stock Exchange closed, Trump claimed that the US defense budget for 2027 would increase from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, after which several defense stocks rebounded.
