Donald Trump said he would like to resume talks on nuclear weapons control with Russia and China, and ultimately hopes that all three countries can agree to cut their massive defense budgets by half. .
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump lamented that hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in rebuilding the country’s nuclear deterrent, cutting his spending from the US enemy He said he wanted it.
“There’s no reason for us to build brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many,” Trump said. “You can destroy the world more than 50 times more. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they are building nuclear weapons.”
“We all spend a lot of money that we can actually spend on other things that are much more productive,” Trump said.
The US and Russia have held large arms stockpiles since the Cold War, but Trump predicted that China will catch up with its ability to accurately devastate nuclear devastation “in five or six years.”
He said if the weapon was called to use it, “it would probably be oblivion.”
Trump said he aims to “set it all straight” and engage in nuclear negotiations with both countries in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“One of the first meetings I want to have is Chinese President XI, Russian President Putin. And I want to say: “Let’s cut our military budget in half.” And we can do that. And I think we can. ”
In his first term, Trump tried to lead China into nuclear weapons reduction talks when the US and Russia were negotiating an extension of the deal known as the New Start. Russia halted participation in the treaty during the Biden administration as the US and Russia continued their large-scale programs to extend or replace the lifespan of Cold War-era nuclear weapons.
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Trump outlined his vision for the cradle of the world order, saying he “loves” Russia in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula.
“I think it was a mistake to abandon him,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his first term, Trump also sought to readmit Russia to the hospital, but he found little support among the other Western countries.
Trump announced Wednesday that he hoped he would meet with Putin separately for the Ukraine Peace Conference.
In the first confirmed contact since Trump returned to the White House, the US president said he had a “very productive” conversation with his Russian counterpart who ordered a bloody invasion in Ukraine.
