Hong Kong (CNN) China won't take part in three-way nuclear talks with the United States and Russia, a government spokesman said Monday, potentially scuttling plans by the Trump administration for a grand nuclear deal between the three nations.

CNN reported in April that US President Donald Trump had been privately eying the possibility of a new pact with Russia and China , after previously describing the New START nuclear agreement with Moscow as a "bad deal."

Multiple White House officials told CNN that Trump's team was looking into options for a new nuclear treaty after New START expires in 2021 which would involve China and "include all the weapons, all the warheads, all the missiles."

Trump said on Friday he had spoken to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese government about a potential three-way agreement , a move which administration officials said could be one of his signature foreign policy achievements.

"China, I've already spoken to them. They very much would like to be a part of that deal. In fact, during the trade talks, we started talking about that," Trump said at the time.

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