Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has called for a brand new nuclear treaty, prompting fears of a fresh global arms race.
The previous agreement with Russia expired on Thursday.
The Trump administration has repeatedly pressed for a new agreement to include China, whose arsenal is growing but is still much smaller than those of Russia and the United States. Beijing has rebuffed US overtures, while Moscow halted inspections in 2023 over Ukraine sanctions and now claims no warhead limits bind it.
Trump had been mostly silent on Moscow’s calls to extend New START, the 2010 treaty that imposed restrictions on the two largest nuclear powers after decades of agreements dating from the Cold War.
But hours after it expired, Trump said that the treaty, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama and carried forward by Joe Biden, was “badly negotiated” and “is being grossly violated.”
“We should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Asked if Washington and Moscow had agreed to stick to the terms of the expired START treaty while talks on a new accord are on, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said she had no such knowledge.
