On September 30, 2017, the Trump administration invoked the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 to issue Presidential Determination 2017-23145, a waiver that suspended congressionally mandated restrictions on military aid to countries identified by the State Department as recruiting or deploying child soldiers in armed conflict. The determination, signed directly by the President, bypassed the statutory prohibition mechanism that would have otherwise blocked U.S. military financing and assistance to these nations. This mechanism allowed the executive branch to override legislative restrictions without additional congressional authorization or debate.

The waiver affected military aid relationships with multiple countries, though the specific nations involved remain subject to classification in some cases. Countries flagged by the State Department as using child soldiers—including nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia—could continue receiving American military support, training, and equipment that would normally be prohibited. This meant that U.S. taxpayer-funded defense assistance could flow to governments engaged in practices the international community has designated as war crimes and human rights violations.

This determination exemplified a broader pattern within the Trump administration's foreign policy of deprioritizing human rights considerations in pursuit of geopolitical and military objectives. The approach mirrors later actions such as the fast-tracked $8.6 billion arms deals to Middle Eastern partners in 2026, which similarly circumvented standard review procedures, and the deployment of thousands of additional military personnel to the Middle East for Iran containment operations. Each action subordinated institutional checks—whether statutory restrictions, congressional oversight, or diplomatic deliberation—to immediate strategic aims.

The Child Soldiers Prevention Act itself contains no explicit statutory waiver authority, making the presidential determination legally contested. Civil rights organizations and some congressional Democrats challenged whether the determination satisfied the statute's limited emergency provisions. No court ultimately blocked the waiver during the Trump administration's tenure, though the legal basis remained disputed among constitutional law scholars.

A reversal would require either a new presidential determination or congressional action to reinstate enforcement of the underlying statute's restrictions on military aid to child soldier-using nations.