WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today released the following statement after President Trump announced in a speech to the National Rifle Association that he plans to withdraw the United States from the Arms Trade Treaty:

“Today the President withdrew the U.S. from a global treaty to control the trafficking in weapons, as a politically-motivated appeasement of the National Rifle Association. President Trump finds it more important to feed his right-wing base than to exercise U.S. leadership on the world stage.

“It is abhorrent to use international diplomacy for blatant political pandering. It’s even more appalling when that policy decision concerns dangerous weapons that endanger the lives of Americans and people around the world.

“The Foreign Affairs Committee will convene a hearing to shine a bright light on this shameful decision.”