US is ‘more powerful than ever before’

US President Trump has vowed the US will remain the “most powerful nation in the world” and bragged about its “stronger and more powerful” nuclear arsenal in a direct threat against North Korea.

The hawkish leader - currently on a working holiday in New Jersey - also retweeted a Fox News article that claimed US air force jets in Guam are ready to “fight tonight” as rhetoric heats up against the rogue state.

“How we train is how we fight and the more we interface with our allies, the better prepared we are to fight tonight,” a US pilot said. It comes as archived video from nearly two decades ago shows the President speaking to Tim Russert on Meet the Press when he was best known as a New York businessman. The footage shows him describe nuclear proliferation as “the biggest problem this world has” which he would “negotiate like crazy” to reduce.

“We can talk about the economy, we can talk about social security, but the biggest problem this world has is nuclear proliferation,” he said in comments before 9/11 and the emergence of the Islamic State.

He also talks about the urgency of addressing the North Korean situation before they had “weapons pointed all over the world and specifically at the United States.

“Look Tim, if a man walks up to you on the street in Washington and puts a gun to your head and says ‘give me your money’ wouldn’t you rather know where he’s coming from before he’s got the gun in his hand?” he asks. “We have a country out there in North Korea which is sort of wacko, which is not a bunch of dummies and they are going and developing nuclear weapons.”

“Wouldn’t it be good to sit down and really negotiate something?

“Now if that negotiation doesn’t work, you better solve the problem now than solve it later, Tim. And you know it and every politician knows it and nobody wants to talk about it these people are laughing at us.”

The tough talk comes after US intelligence found North Korea had produced a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside a ballistic missile, showing plans were much more advanced than previously thought.

Mr Trump said the country would face “fire and fury” like it had never seen before and North Korea threatened a missile strike against Guam.

Leaders in Europe and the US have called for calm, saying there is no “imminent threat” but expressing alarm at the escalation of rhetoric between the two countries.