“I Was Very Close to a Deal”: Trump Claims Nuclear Agreement with Russia and China Was Near
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump revealed that he was “very close” to striking a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reduce nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States, with plans to involve China in the future. However, he claimed the 2020 election disrupted those efforts.
Trump made these remarks during a two-part interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in the Oval Office. The first part aired on Wednesday, and the second part was broadcast on Thursday.
“I was dealing with — at the very end — I was dealing with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin about a denuclearization of Russia and the United States,” Trump told Hannity. “And then we were going to bring China along on that one because they have much less than we do.”
The former president emphasized how close he believed the negotiations were to fruition. “I was very close to having a deal. I would’ve made a deal with Putin on that. Denuclearization. It’s very dangerous and very expensive, okay? Both. But we had a bad election that interrupted us, and that’s why I’m here now,” he stated.
Trump also expressed concerns about China’s nuclear ambitions, noting that the country is expected to expand its arsenal to rival that of the United States in the coming years. “They’re trying to get there, unfortunately, but right now they have much less in terms of nuclear,” he said.
While Trump has previously condemned the use of nuclear weapons, describing them as the “absolute last step,” he has also acknowledged their role in global security. In a 2016 interview with The New York Times, Trump described nuclear capability as the “single biggest problem” facing the world.
“Power of weaponry today is beyond anything ever thought of, or even, you know, it’s unthinkable, the power,” Trump said at the time. “It’s a very scary nuclear world. Biggest problem, to me, in the world, is nuclear, and proliferation.”
Trump’s comments during the interview underscore his stance on the dangers of nuclear weapons and his claim that he was working toward significant progress on the issue. However, his assertion that the 2020 election interrupted these plans highlights his ongoing criticism of the election’s outcome and its impact on his presidency.
