President Trump said Thursday that he wants to begin talks with Russia and China about denuclearization, once “things settle down,” to cut military spending.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually hopefully much more productive,” he said. “Hopefully there’ll never be a time where we need those weapons.”

He said it would be a “very sad day” if it ever comes to the point of having to use nuclear weapons.

“That’s going to be probably oblivion,” he said.

The president said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have already “agreed that we were going to do it in a very big way.”

He noted that China is behind in their nuclear weapon arsenal but would catch up “within five or six years.”

He said once “we straighten it all out” with the Russia-Ukraine war and the Middle East, conversations will be underway.

“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi [Jinping] of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to,” he said.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.