--- title: Trump Wants U.S. Nuclear Arsenal to Be 'Top of the Pack' description: The President wants the U.S. nuclear arsenal to be "top of the pack," and called an arms limitation pact with Russia a "one-sided deal" canonical: https://time.com/4681555/trump-us-nuclear-arsenal/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T08:58:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:30:10.173Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Wants U.S. Nuclear Arsenal To Be "Top Of The Pack" og:description: Russia currently has around 7,300 nuclear weapons, while the U.S. has 6,970 og:url: https://time.com/4681555/trump-us-nuclear-arsenal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d32542bc3ab73b0/6988bbba97cdff8aeb6af95a/gettyimages-644353168.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump Leads Listening Session On Human Trafficking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Wants U.S. Nuclear Arsenal To Be "Top Of The Pack" twitter:description: Russia currently has around 7,300 nuclear weapons, while the U.S. has 6,970 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d32542bc3ab73b0/6988bbba97cdff8aeb6af95a/gettyimages-644353168.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says He Wants the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal to Be 'Top of the Pack' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Feb 24, 2017 8:58 AM UTC  President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2017. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2017. Oliver Douliery/Pool—Getty Images by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Feb 24, 2017 8:58 AM UTC President Donald Trump wants the U.S. nuclear arsenal to stand “at the top of the pack,” and called an arms limitation pact with Russia a “one-sided deal.” He made the comments [in an interview](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN1622IF) with Reuters, during which he also talked about defense of U.S. allies in Northeast Asia and called the European Union “wonderful.” “It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack,” he told Reuters_._ Expressing concern that the U.S. “fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity,” Trump said that the U.S. nuclear armory would not lag any others, “even if it’s a friendly country.” Trump’s latest comments echo [tweets he sent](http://time.com/4616711/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons/) last December when President-elect, which in turn echoed sentiments by Vladimir Putin about the Russian nuclear stockpile. **Read More:** [_Mikhail Gorbachev: ‘It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War’_](http://time.com/4645442/gorbachev-putin-trump/) Trump meanwhile criticized a U.S.-Russia agreement on nuclear armaments, the new START treaty, which would see both sides limit their strategic nuclear arms to an equal level for 10 years, according to Reuters. Without specifying any specific course of action, he called it “a one-sided deal,” telling Reuters that it’s “just another bad deal that the country made.” Russia currently has around 7,300 nuclear weapons, while the U.S. stockpile stands at 6,970, [according to the Ploughshares Fund](http://www.ploughshares.org/real-cost-nuclear-weapons#reduce), an antinuclear group. Trump also spoke about concerns he had with North Korea’s recent missile tests, one of which took place during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [at the Mar-a-Lago club](http://time.com/4669571/north-korea-mar-a-lago-nuclear-football-korea/) in Florida. **Read More:** [_Coal, Nukes, and a Mortuary Break-In: The Real-World Intrigue Surrounding the Killing of Kim Jong Nam_](http://time.com/4678349/north-korea-china-kim-jong-na-un-malaysia-assassination/) When asked about plans by [South Korea](http://time.com/4407575/south-korea-thaad-seongju-kim-jong-un-sanctions-china-beijing-north-korea/) and [Japan](http://time.com/4517524/north-korea-missile-rocket-test-japan-threat/), both U.S. allies, to deploy the U.S.’s THAAD missile defense system, he said that “there’s talk of a lot more than that.” He didn’t rule out a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. His positive comments about the E.U. come despite [previous rhetoric](http://time.com/4457246/donald-trump-brexit-tweet/) on the matter and the [encouragement](http://time.com/4643051/donald-trump-european-union-koblenz/) his election has given to right-wing populists, who are opponents of the bloc. 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