Donald Trump Wants to 'Get Rid' of Nuclear Weapons
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he is in favor of denuclearization among global powers.
"It would be great if everybody would get rid of their nuclear weapons. I know Russia and us have by far the most," Trump said. "China will have an equal amount within 4-5 years. It would be great if we could all denuclearize because the power of nuclear weapons is crazy."
Trump's remarks come amid rising tensions between global superpowers, with the United States, Russia, and China all working to modernize and expand their nuclear capabilities.
This isn't the first time Trump has addressed the issue. In February, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he criticized the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the U.S. nuclear deterrent. He also expressed hope of securing commitments from U.S. adversaries to reduce their spending.
"There's no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons—we already have so many," Trump said. "You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they're building nuclear weapons."
Trump's comments align with his broader strategy to cut U.S. defense spending and redirect funds toward domestic priorities. He proposed initiating negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, aiming to reduce military budgets significantly.
"One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say, 'let's cut our military budget in half.' And we can do that. And I think we'll be able to," Trump said in February.
The call for renewed arms control talks echoes past efforts to bring China into nuclear agreements, a goal that eluded Trump during his first term when the U.S. and Russia negotiated an extension of the New START treaty. China has historically resisted these discussions, arguing that Washington and Moscow should scale back their arsenals before demanding cuts from Beijing.
While the U.S. and Russia have held massive stockpiles of weapons since the Cold War, Trump predicted that China would catch up in their capability to exact nuclear devastation "within five or six years."
However, despite Trump's desire to restart denuclearization efforts, some experts remain skeptical about the feasibility of such agreements. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the U.S. is already spending $75 billion annually on nuclear modernization programs, with an estimated total of $1.7 trillion planned over the next 30 years.
Lucas Ruiz, a fellow with the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank focused on security issues, in a blog post: "The current modernization push is fueled by a pathology of nuclear superiority brinkmanship, which is accelerating a headlong rush into a new nuclear arms race and increasing the odds of a confrontation between nuclear powers."
Alistair Burnett, head of media for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told Newsweek: "President Trump has a long track record of talking about nuclear weapons and the threat they pose to humanity. He raised the issue several times during his election campaign last year, and several times since he became president, he has said he would like to talk to Russia and China about "denuclearization."
It's unclear when denuclearization talks may happen or whether China and Russia would be willing to consider these discussions.
