'If it expires, it expires,' Trump tells NYT about US-Russia nuclear treaty

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he would allow the last U.S.-Russia strategic arms control treaty to expire without accepting an offer from Moscow to voluntarily extend its caps on deployments of the world's most powerful nuclear weapons, according to remarks released on Thursday.

AI Brief

Trump dismisses extending the New START treaty, suggesting a new agreement instead.
Arms control advocates warn of increased nuclear deployments after the treaty expires.
Trump wants China included in future talks, but Beijing rejects joining disarmament negotiations.

"If it expires, it expires," Trump said of the 2010 New START accord in an interview he gave to the New York Times on Wednesday. "We'll just do a better agreement."

Arms control advocates fear the world's two biggest nuclear powers will begin deploying strategic warheads beyond the pact's limits after it expires on February 5, hastening an erosion of the global arms control regime.

"There are plenty of advocates in the Trump administration ... for doing exactly that," said Thomas Countryman, a former top State Department arms control official who chairs the board of the Arms Control Association advocacy group.

A White House spokesperson referred Reuters to Trump's comments when asked if he will accept an offer made in September by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the sides to voluntarily maintain the limits on strategic nuclear weapons deployments after New START expires.

Trump said in July he would like to maintain the limits set out in the treaty after it expires.

The agreement limits the U.S. and Russia to deploying no more than 1,550 warheads on 700 delivery vehicles - missiles, bombers and submarines.

New START cannot be extended. As written, it allowed one extension and Putin and former U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to roll it over for five years in 2021.

Trump told the New York Times that China, which has the world's fastest-growing strategic nuclear force, should be included in a treaty that replaces New START.

Beijing, seen by the U.S. as its main global rival, has spurned that proposal since Trump promoted it in his first administration, asserting the Russian and U.S. nuclear forces dwarf its arsenal.

"You probably want to get a couple of other players involved also," Trump said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it would be "neither reasonable nor realistic to ask China to join the nuclear disarmament negotiations with the U.S. and Russia."

"China always keeps its nuclear strength at the minimum level required by national security, and never engages in arms race with anyone," spokesperson Liu Pengyu said when reached for comment.

A Pentagon report last month said China is likely to have loaded more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles across its latest three silo fields and has no desire for arms control talks.

New START has been under serious strain since Moscow announced in February 2023 it was halting participation in procedures used to verify compliance with its terms, citing U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

The U.S. followed suit that June, suspending its participation in inspections and data exchanges, although both sides have continued observing the pact's limits.