President Donald Trump on Thursday called for U.S. nuclear experts to begin work on what he described as a ‘new, improved, and modernized Treaty,’ arguing that the United States should move away from extending the existing New START nuclear arms agreement.
Trump made the remarks in a post on Truth Social as the administration weighs the future of U.S. nuclear arms control policy and whether it will seek to extend or replace New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow.
‘Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, 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.
‘The president wants to have our nuclear experts work on a new, improved and modernized treaty that can last long into the future,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing. ‘And that’s what the United States will continue to discuss with the Russians.’
Trump also made broader claims in his post about his role in preventing nuclear conflict, writing that he stopped ‘Nuclear Wars from breaking out across the World between Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine.’
A White House official told Fox News that the Trump administration is still weighing next steps on nuclear arms control and that no final decision has been announced.
‘The President will decide the path forward on nuclear arms control, which he will clarify on his own timeline,’ the official said.
The official added that Trump ‘has spoken repeatedly of addressing the threat nuclear weapons pose to the world and indicated that he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks.’
Axios reported Thursday that U.S. and Russian officials have been discussing whether both sides could continue to observe the terms of New START after its expiration, citing multiple sources familiar with the talks. The outlet reported that no formal extension has been approved and that any arrangement would not be legally binding.
In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the U.S. should pursue a new agreement rather than extend New START.
According to the Associated Press, New START’s expiration leaves no caps on the U.S. and Russia’s nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Trump has made clear that future arms control efforts must include China, telling reporters that ‘in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile.’