Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in the last of three debates, on Wednesday repeated their arguments over the nuclear weapon-related dangers of their opponent’s potential presidency, touching on the strategic stability between the United States and Russia.
Commenting on the U.S.-Russian relationship, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly “outsmarted” Clinton and the Obama administration in international security. “They create warheads, and we can’t,” he said, likely referring to the nuclear modernization programs and comparative nuclear arsenals of both countries.
Recent data released on the latest nuclear arsenal reductions under the bilateral New START treaty show that while the U.S. has reduced its number of deployed strategic warheads over time, Russia has increased its own numbers. While analysts note Russia’s increase in strategic warheads is only a temporary change ahead of the 2018 deadline for treaty compliance, the data caused House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) to comment at the time that “while we cut our U.S. nuclear forces, the Russians have built more.”
Both countries are modernizing their nuclear arsenals. The U.S. program to update all three legs of its nuclear triad is estimated to cost $1 trillion over three decades.
Clinton again labeled Trump “cavalier” and “casual” about nuclear-weapon use, citing his previous comments suggesting he would support U.S. allies’ development of their own nuclear weapons — including Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, Trump argued again that the U.S. should be fairly financially compensated for defending these and other allied countries.
