The U.S. will outspend any other nation in building up its nuclear arsenal, President Donald Trump said, in a fresh challenge to Russia and China, Bloomberg informed.
“We have more money than anybody else, by far. We’ll build it up,” Trump said after being asked late Monday if he was prepared to build up the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal. “Until they come to their senses. When they do, then we’ll all be smart and we’ll all stop.”
Speaking before a mid-term election campaign rally, Trump repeated his intention to terminate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as INT, with Russia. He said Moscow had “violated the agreement” on intermediate-range conventional and nuclear weapons — accusations that Russia has repeatedly rejected.
“It’s a threat to whoever you want,” he added when asked if it was a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “And it includes China, and it includes Russia, and it includes anybody else that wants to play that game. You can’t do that. You can’t play that game on me.”
Congress may not share Trump’s enthusiasm for burying China and Russia with another costly nuclear arms race. While lawmakers approved a 4 percent funding increase for the Department of Energy nuclear weapons budget last month, Trump’s Republican Party is at risk of losing control of the House in midterm elections in two weeks — a shift that would give him less leeway to boost spending.
Countries around the globe urged the U.S. to stay in the three-decade-old arms control treaty with Russia. The European Union said the two sides “need to remain engaged in constructive dialog to preserve the treaty,” while China said the move would generate “multiple negative effects.”
“I want to stress that it is completely wrong to use China as an excuse for pulling out of the treaty,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Monday in Beijing before Trump’s latest remarks. “We hope relevant countries can cherish the hard-won achievements over the years, prudently and properly handle issues related to the treaty through dialogue and consultation, and think twice about withdrawing from the treaty.”
Trump’s latest comments came the same day as the U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait for the second time since July, a show of force that threatens to further exacerbate tensions with China.
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