President Trump has announced plans to pull the United States out of a landmark nuclear arms pact with Russia, in a move that could spark a new arms race. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987. The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. On Saturday, Trump vowed to build new nuclear weapons. We speak with Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association. He previously led the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. He has been advocating for the US and Russia to preserve the INF Treaty.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: President Trump has announced plans to pull the United States out of a landmark nuclear arms pact with Russia, in a move that could spark a new arms race. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, in 1987. The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. On Saturday, Trump vowed to build new nuclear weapons.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us and they say, “Let’s really get smart, and let’s, none of us, develop those weapons.” But if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable. So, we have a tremendous amount of money to play with on our military — $700 billion, plus $716 billion. So, Russia has not adhered to the agreement, so we are going to terminate the agreement, and we are going to develop the weapons. If they get smart and if others get smart and they say, “Let’s not develop these horrible nuclear weapons,” I would be extremely happy with that. But as long as somebody’s violating that agreement, then we’re not…