Trump: US will build up nuclear arsenal

WASHINGTON: The US will outspend any other nation in building up its nuclear arsenal, President Donald Trump said in a fresh challenge to Russia and China.

“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 US’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% 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 urged the US 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.”

“The US is unilaterally pulling out of the pact while making an issue out of China,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Tuesday in Beijing. “This action is completely unreasonable. China upholds a defensive national defence policy and will never accept any form of blackmail.”