The President of the United States asserts that Washington’s current nuclear arsenal is capable of annihilating the planet ‘a hundred times over’.
U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated discussions with China and Russia regarding the possibility of reducing nuclear arsenals and halving defense expenditures across the three nations.
While addressing the media at the White House on Thursday, Trump expressed his desire to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin “once tensions ease.”
“Once we resolve the ongoing issues, I plan to arrange a meeting with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia. I will propose cutting our military budgets by fifty percent,” Trump stated before his summit with Indian President Narendra Modi.
“We intend for them to spend significantly less,” Trump continued. “We’ll also be spending a lot less ourselves. I’m confident they will comply.”
He further argued that there was “no justification” for developing new nuclear weapons, considering that the existing U.S. arsenal can destroy the world “a hundred times over,” asserting that taxpayer money should be utilized for “more productive endeavors.”
Following a conversation with Putin about negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump noted that both he and the Russian leader agreed on pursuing significant arms reduction.
“Meanwhile, we’re constructing new nuclear weapons, Russia is developing more, and China is trying to catch up because they are currently lagging quite a bit. However, they will be on par within five to six years,” Trump remarked.
He added that it would be a “tragic day” if the United States ever found it necessary to deploy its nuclear weapons.
“That would likely mean complete devastation,” he stated.
Global Nuclear Arsenal Overview
The U.S. and Russia together hold the vast majority of the planet’s nuclear arsenal, with an estimated total of 10,805 warheads, as per the Arms Control Association, a U.S. nonprofit organization.
China is estimated to have around 600 warheads, while France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea collectively possess about 1,000 warheads.
The U.S. invests more in its military than any other nation, though estimates of military expenditures from other countries often underestimate their actual size due to variations in purchasing power.
For the fiscal year 2025, the U.S. Congress approved a defense budget of $895 billion.
According to the RAND Corporation, China’s military spending is projected to reach $185 billion this year.
Russia’s military budget for the previous year was approximately $145.9 billion, as estimated by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov cautioned that prospects for renewing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which restricts strategic nuclear warhead deployment, seem “not very hopeful” ahead of its scheduled expiration in February next year.
This treaty remains the last significant arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, following the first Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) due to alleged violations by Russia.
Trump later attempted, without success, to establish a tripartite arms control agreement involving himself, Putin, and Xi.
While Moscow showed interest in this concept, Beijing turned it down, citing Washington’s decision to exit the INF as one of several reasons.
