Washington is winning the arms-sales competition in the rest of the Third World, according to the report. In 1990, U.S. agreements to sell arms to Third World countries jumped to $18.5 billion, compared with about $8 billion in 1989. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s arms-sales agreements with the Third World dropped from $13 billion in 1989 to $12.1 billion in 1990. It was the first time in seven years that U.S. arms-sales agreements with developing nations were higher than Moscow’s. The increase is U.S. sales was due largely to costly buys by Saudi Arabia for the gulf war.
