When Wars “Fade Out”: Trump to Offer China and Russia Defense Spending to Be Cut in Half

When the wars “die down”: Trump will offer China and Russia to halve their defense spending Nadezhda Batyuk

US President Donald Trump said he wants to negotiate with Russia and China on cutting defense budgets. This will be possible as soon as the wars in Russia and the Gaza Strip “die down.”

In addition, Trump wants to resume negotiations with Xi Jianping and Vladimir Putin on reducing nuclear arsenals. This was reported by 24 Channel with reference to the Associated Press.

What Trump said about the defense budget

The US President said that when “everything gets better,” he would like to hold one of his first meetings with the leaders of Russia and China.

When we get everything sorted out, one of my first meetings I would like to hold is with China's representative Xi and Russian President Putin. And I want to say: “Let's cut our military budget in half,” Trump says.

It is worth noting that last year, Russia's defense spending increased by 42%. Thus, in 2024, they amounted to 13.1 trillion rubles. This is about 462 billion dollars, taking into account purchasing power parity.

Note that the defense budget of all EU countries and Great Britain combined is only 457 billion dollars. However, experts predict that by 2025, Russia's defense spending will increase by 13.7% and reach 15.6 trillion rubles.