Trump Says U.S. Discussing Nuclear Disarmament with China and Russia, Claims Beijing Will Catch Up in 5 Years

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the United States is discussing nuclear disarmament with China and Russia.

In an interview with the U.S. conservative media outlet Newsmax released on October 15 (local time), President Trump said, "If possible, I would like to denuclearize. But we are discussing this with Russia, and we are discussing it with China."

Noting that while the U.S. currently ranks first in the size of its nuclear arsenal followed by Russia, China will catch up within five to six years, he added, "China is quite far behind, so they probably want to discuss it less, but we are discussing it a lot."

President Trump did not provide specific details on how the nuclear disarmament discussions with China and Russia are taking place.

White House briefing materials released during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. last month stated that President Trump "stressed the necessity of trilateral arms control negotiations involving the United States, China, and Russia," but this content was omitted from the Chinese side's announcement.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for nuclear disarmament between the United States and Russia already expired last February.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in China next month will be attended by President Xi, the host country's leader, as well as President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin recently raised expectations that President Xi is likely to push for a trilateral summit between the U.S., China, and Russia on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

It remains uncertain whether a U.S.-China-Russia summit will materialize around APEC, but if held, nuclear disarmament is expected to be one of the main agenda items.

In the interview, President Trump directly criticized Ukraine's resumption of attacks on Russian oil refineries as a "shameful thing."

President Trump, who recently unilaterally announced an "energy truce," expressed his discomfort, stating, "There are many targets to attack, but attacking diesel oil refineries is acting in a way that does not help the world."

In particular, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Trump disparaged him by saying he "doesn't like him much" and that he is a harder figure to deal with than President Putin, while also claiming that Ukraine needs an election.

This marks a repeated expression of distrust toward President Zelenskyy and a renewed raising of the need for a change in Ukraine's leadership.

President Trump unilaterally announced on October 11 that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an energy truce, but President Zelenskyy has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries, showing no hesitation in heading into a direct collision with President Trump.

Additionally, President Trump mentioned in the interview that he is looking into Iran's key nuclear facility, "Mount Karkhaneh" (or the "Pickaxe Mountain"), once again signaling the possibility of a military strike.

However, regarding the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops to Iran, he drew a line, saying, "I don't expect that will happen."

He also dismissed the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Iran.

Asked whether he trusts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he evasively replied, "To be honest, I don't trust anyone."

Ahead of the midterm elections, President Trump claimed that he holds a lot of information on former U.S. Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, adding that he could utilize this information if the Democratic Party takes control of the House of Representatives and pushes to impeach him.

When asked if he is willing to act on such information, President Trump answered, "Well, probably not. But if they impeach me again..."

Newsmax reported that President Trump also conveyed the perception that past impeachment pushes by Democrats actually helped him, and that even if Democrats resort to the impeachment card again, it would ultimately benefit the Republican Party.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.