Trump says he wants “equity” in negotiations on nuclear disarmament with China

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he thought that his administration would have “very good relations” with China and that everything he wanted concerning business issues with Asian power was “equity” .

Trump also said in virtual remarks in front of business leaders participating in the World Economic Forum this year in Davos, Switzerland, that he wanted to take negotiations on nuclear disarmament with China and Russia.

When he was asked how he envisaged relations between Washington and Beijing in the next four years under his direction, Trump replied: “We simply want the rules of the fair play”, emphasizing the massive trade deficits of the United States with China. “We have to make things right. We don't need to make them phenomenal.”

The president, who returned to power on Monday to start a second non-consecutive term, noted, without naming any, that there are many other Asian countries with which the United States has commercial imbalances, adding: “We are n 'Let's not continue to do this. “

President Donald Trump addresses journalists in the White House oval office in Washington, January 23, 2025. (Getty/Kyodo)

In his speech to the annual forum broadcast live in front of a global audience, Trump, well known for his transactional approach, said that his message to all companies in the world was simple.

By accessing the American market, companies could either manufacture products in the United States while the government is preparing to reduce business taxes, or be confronted with customs duties if they choose not to do so, A-T -It declared.

During the question period and answers, Trump said that he “very much” appreciated Chinese President Xi Jinping, even if he admitted that their relations had been tense by the epidemic of the new coronavirus during his first mandate.

“We have always had great relationships, I would say, and we can't wait to succeed with China and hear ourselves with it,” he said.

While its administration plans to impose additional customs duties of 10 % on products from China, perhaps from February 1, Trump said that he wanted the second world economy to help the United States to end the Russian war in Ukraine.

“I hope that we can work together and put an end to this”, since China has a great influence on the fate of the war, he said, revealing that it has raised the question during its conversation With XI Friday, when the Chinese leader called.

Trump then suddenly added that he wanted to work on “denuclearization” with China and Russia, and that he thought that such efforts were “completely possible”.

Referring to the conversations that took place during his first presidency, Trump said that he had discussed the reduction of nuclear arsenals with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that China would have joined them.

“China currently has a much smaller nuclear armaments than ours … But it will acquire it at some point in the next four or five years,” he said.

While China quickly develops its nuclear capacities, the United States and Russia have around 90 % of all nuclear weapons in the world together.

According to the International Peace Research Institute in Stockholm, in January of last year, Russia had 5,580 nuclear weapons, the United States 5,044, followed by China 500.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago, the bilateral architecture of disarmament between Washington and Moscow has been considerably eroded. In February 2023, Russia announced the suspension of the new strategic weapons reduction treaty, its last nuclear weapons control agreement.

Shortly after the start of his second term, Trump signed many decrees to advance his program “America first” and to retreat the key policies of his predecessor Joe Biden, such as those intended to stimulate transition to clean energies.

During Davos' speech, he denied the Biden era and reaffirmed that he would launch “the largest deregulation campaign” in the history of the United States.

Among other subjects, he urged Saudi Arabia and the other members of the organization of oil exporting countries to lower world oil prices and demanded that each NATO ally increases its defense expenses to 5 % of its gross domestic product.

Trump, who expressed the hope of meeting “soon” Putin, insisted that the war in Ukraine could end earlier if the cost of oil was lower.

“With the drop in oil prices, I will demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should drop all over the world,” he added.

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Trump envisages additional customs duties of 10 % on China from February 1