Soon after China put the electromagnetic catapults on its newest aircraft carrier to the test, US President Donald Trump has taken a swipe at the “stupid electric” technology – and called for a return to steam power.

The advanced catapult launch system was originally developed by the United States to boost the performance of its aircraft carriers.

But when he addressed US Navy sailors aboard the USS George Washington in Japan on Tuesday, Trump said he was serious about signing an executive order to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which he called expensive, unreliable and difficult to repair.

Donald Trump gives a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the US Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

He said the system – designed to launch aircraft faster, more smoothly and with greater energy efficiency – had cost billions of dollars to build and fine-tune. According to Trump, when EMALS breaks down, “you have to send it up to MIT and get the most brilliant people in the world” to fix it.

In contrast, he said the 70-year-old steam catapult – which uses high-pressure steam to drive pistons that hurl aircraft off the flight deck – was more reliable and could be repaired “with a hammer and a blowtorch” while working “just as well, if not better”.

Trump also praised the dramatic effect of steam clouds billowing off aircraft carrier decks. “I love the sight of that beautiful steam pouring off that deck,” he told the sailors. “With the electric, you don’t have that … I like steam; we’re going to go back to steam.”

His remarks came just a month after China released new footage showing its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducting sea trials with its own electromagnetic launch system.

The footage aired on Chinese state television in September showed three types of aircraft – including the J-35 stealth fighter and the KJ-600 early warning plane – launching from and landing on the carrier’s deck.