The Blubber

Donald Trump stated that he wants to resume nuclear arms control negotiations with Russia and China, expressing hope that all three nations could eventually agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on rebuilding the U.S. nuclear deterrent and said he aims to secure commitments from adversaries to reduce their own military expenditures.

“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.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,” he added.

While the U.S. and Russia have long held vast nuclear stockpiles, Trump predicted that China would catch up within five or six years in its ability to unleash nuclear destruction.

He warned that if these weapons were ever used, “that’s going to be probably oblivion.”

Trump said he intends to pursue nuclear negotiations with Russia and China once “we straighten it all out” in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“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.”

During his first term, Trump attempted but failed to bring China into nuclear arms reduction talks as the U.S. and Russia negotiated an extension of the New START treaty. Russia later suspended its participation in the treaty under the Biden administration, while both countries continued large-scale efforts to modernize or replace their Cold War-era nuclear arsenals.

Laying out his vision for reshaping global diplomacy, Trump also said he would “love” to see Russia reinstated in the G7. Moscow was suspended from the group in 2014 after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.

“I think it was a mistake to throw him out,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his first term, Trump had also pushed for Russia’s return to the G7 but received little support from other Western nations.

On Wednesday, Trump revealed he expects to meet Putin separately for Ukraine peace talks, marking a sudden shift in relations.

In their first confirmed contact since Trump’s return to the White House, the U.S. president described his conversation with Putin as “highly productive.” The Russian leader had ordered the bloody 2022 invasion of Ukraine.