Trump Calls for Expansion of U.S. Nuclear Arsenal

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has called for the expansion of the country's nuclear arsenal to ensure that the U.S. remains at the forefront of all nuclear powers. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Trump stated that the U.S. should not fall behind any country in terms of nuclear capability. In the interview published on Thursday, he said, 'I am the first one who would love to see no nuclear weapons, but we can never fall behind (other countries), even if that country is our friend. We will never fall behind anyone in nuclear power.' The U.S. President added that it would be beautiful; it is a dream that no country has nuclear weapons. But if other countries are going to have nuclear weapons, we must be at the top of all powers. Reuters reports that according to a report from an anti-nuclear weapons institute, Russia currently has 7,300 nuclear warheads, while the U.S. has 6,970. According to this report, under the New START treaty signed in 2010 between Moscow and Washington, both countries were to reduce their nuclear arsenals to a certain level by 2018 and maintain that balance for ten years. Reuters notes that the U.S. President referred to the New START treaty as 'a one-sided agreement.' Trump stated, 'This is another example of a bad deal that the country has made, whether it's START or Iran, we will make good deals from now on.' The U.S. President also criticized Russia's deployment of cruise missiles, which violates a nuclear weapons control treaty, stating that if he meets with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, he will discuss this issue with him. Last week, the White House protested against Russia's deployment of a cruise missile, claiming it violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Under this treaty, the U.S. and the Soviet Union destroyed their ground-based nuclear and non-nuclear ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The signing of this treaty reduced the risk of nuclear conflict in Europe and was the foundation of arms control agreements between the two countries in the 1980s. The Obama administration had accused Russia three years ago of violating this treaty by producing and testing a type of cruise missile. Now, according to the Associated Press, a Trump administration official states that U.S. intelligence agencies estimate this missile became operational last year. In the interview conducted at the White House, Trump stated that China 'could easily solve' the North Korean challenge, which poses a threat to U.S. national security, 'if it wanted to.' The U.S. President further expressed his anger over North Korea's missile tests. Trump emphasized that developing a missile defense system is one of the options to counter the North Korean missile threat and support Japan and South Korea. North Korea announced on February 13 that it had successfully tested a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, with Kim Jong-un personally overseeing the test. This was North Korea's first missile test since Trump took office as President. In response to this missile test, Trump had emphasized that North Korea is a big problem and he would deal with it firmly.