Trump teases nuclear talks with Russia and China and demands NATO nations pay more for defense in blistering speech

President Donald Trump laid out his American First program to the international business elite Thursday with a speech demanding that NATO nations more than double their defense spending and calling for nuclear talks with China and Russia.

He told dignitaries gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he wanted to soon meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war with Ukraine.

And he expressed a desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms. 

‘We’d like to see denuclearization … and I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear,’ he said in a speech by videolink from the White House. 

‘And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow, and China would have come along too.’

On his third full day in office, he laid out his international agenda, including a warning to the world: Make your products in America or face hefty tariffs.

If any in the audience thought his campaign promises were simply bluster designed to win votes they would have been disabused of that idea by the end of his speech.

‘As we restore common sense in America, we’re moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad,’ he said. 

President Donald Trump addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos by videolink

'We'd like to see denuclearization ... and I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear,' Trump said in a speech by videolink from the White House

‘We’d like to see denuclearization … and I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear,’ Trump said in a speech by videolink from the White House

‘I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago.’

During his first term he called for members to do more to meet their two percent commitment.

‘I insisted that they pay, and they did,’ he said. ‘The United States was really paying the difference at that time, and it’s was unfair to the United States.’

Trump triggered fears of a new arms race by pulling the U.S. out of the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019.

The US and Nato accused Russia of violating the pact by deploying a new type of cruise missile, which Moscow denied. 

Trump also said the treaty was meaningless as it did not cover China’s nuclear arsenal.

‘China has a much smaller, right now, nuclear armament than us or field than us, but  they’re going to be catching it at some point over the next four or five years,’ is how he put it Thursday. 

He offered no further details on how nuclear talks might work, other than setting out his enthusiasm. 

Trump said he wanted to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine

Trump said he wanted to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine

‘Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear … and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it’s too depressing,’ he said.

‘So we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible.’

The White House announced earlier that Trump’s first call in office was with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, sending a clear message about his priorities for the next four years.

American intelligence services believe MBS (as he is known) approved the murder of a Washington Post journalist in 2018 and the Biden administration handled Saudi relations with caution.

Trump made clear he has no such reservations when he described the crown prince as a ‘fantastic guy.’

The White House said the two discussed efforts to bring stability to the Middle East and combat terrorism.

‘Additionally, they discussed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s international economic ambitions over the next four years as well as trade and other opportunities to increase the mutual prosperity of the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,’ it said.

Earlier it was reported that Saudi Arabia would be investing $600 billion in the U.S.

Earlier the

 

 

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk