Donald Trump vowed to ensure that America remained at “the top of the pack” of nuclear powers, as the US president on Thursday warned that the nation had “fallen behind” in terms of weapons capacity.

In an interview with Reuters, Mr Trump said he would prefer a world with no nuclear weapons, but would make sure the US was the dominant nuclear power. His first remarks on nuclear forces as president come two months after a tweet that the US should “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability”. Asked about the tweet at the time, he reportedly told an MSNBC anchor: “Let it be an arms race”.

“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,” Mr Trump said on Thursday. “I am the first one that would like to see?.?.?.?nobody have nukes but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country.”