US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington is holding talks with Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearizing the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
Russia has the most stored nuclear warheads followed by the United States and China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The US outpaces Russia on its number of deployed warheads.
During an interview with Newsmax, Trump said he expects China to "catch up" with the US within the next five years.
"The whole thing is a shame, because I'd love to denuclearize if possible, but we're actually talking to Russia about that, and we're talking to China about that denuclearization," Trump told the outlet.
Newsmax reported that Trump had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about denuclearization.
Denuclearization talks come months after Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired
Trump's comments come months after the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired earlier this year.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, allowed one single extension, which was agreed to by former President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin for five years. Any new extension would require an executive decision to voluntarily extend the limits of the treaty.