Trump: U.S. will cease building nuclear arsenal if other countries stop first

President Donald Trump on Monday had a message for countries building their nuclear arsenals: "If they stop, we'll stop."

"We're increasing arsenals of virtually every weapon," the president said during a meeting with governors and mayors. "We're modernizing and creating a brand-new nuclear force. And, frankly, we have to do because others are doing it. If they stop, we'll stop."


Trump did not specify what countries he was talking about, but he has sparred in the past with North Korea over its testing of ballistic missiles.

Trump touted the budget Congress passed last week and said it advanced because of extra spending for the military. He said the U.S. will "have the strongest military we ever had by far."

"I hope they stop, and if they do, we'll stop in two minutes," he said of other countries' nuclear ambitions.

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The president also said he hopes the U.S. never has to use the weapons it's developing, and he would "like to get rid of a lot of them."

"We will have a nuclear force that will be absolutely modernized and brand-new," he said. "And hopefully we will never have to use it, and hopefully we could reduce it in the years ahead. And that depends really on what other people are going to be doing."

