Trump says he won't permit dividends, buybacks for defense companies till they fix equipment production

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not ​permit dividends or stock buybacks for ‌defense companies until they fix problems with the production of ‌military equipment.

"Defense Companies are not producing our Great Military Equipment rapidly enough and, once produced, not maintaining it properly or quickly," Trump said ⁠in a post ‌on Truth Social.

Trump also called executive pay packages in the defense industry "exorbitant ‍and unjustifiable."

"From this moment forward, these Executives must build NEW and MODERN Production Plants, both for delivering and ​maintaining this important Equipment, and for building ‌the latest Models of future Military Equipment," he said, without naming any specific companies or executives.

"Until they do so, no Executive should be allowed to make in excess of $5 Million Dollars ⁠which, as high as ​it sounds, is a mere ​fraction of what they are making now."Trump and the Pentagon have been complaining ‍about the ⁠expensive, slow-moving and entrenched nature of the defense industry, promising dramatic changes that would ⁠make the production of war equipment more nimble.

(Reporting by ‌Katharine Jackson and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; ‌Editing by Caitlin Webber)