Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Defense and the Russian Foreign Ministry by email with requests for comment. Trump on Thursday called for talks with the U.S.'s most powerful adversaries, China and Russia, to engage in talks on drawing down defense spending and their nuclear stockpiles—once "things settle down," saying there was "no reason" for the U.S. to be spending nearly $1 trillion on defense as it is this year.
It was an unexpected statement for a U.S. president, particularly a Republican one. The shift comes as China accelerates its military buildup, seen by experts as a response to U.S. capabilities, and after Russia's 2022 abandonment of its last major nuclear treaty with Washington, New START, amid tensions over Putin's war in Ukraine.
