Mr. Trump wants to sign a new nuclear treaty to replace New START

A few hours after the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expired, US President Donald Trump on February 5 declared that the agreement “was badly negotiated and is being seriously violated”. He said that nuclear experts should work to build “a new, improved, modernized treaty that can last long into the future,” instead of continuing to extend New START.

When asked whether Washington and Moscow agreed to comply with the terms of the New START treaty while negotiating a new agreement, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt replied “as far as I know, no.”

Russian officials have not commented on the information. Moscow announced on February 4 that it was no longer bound by obligations under the New START framework, and left open the possibility of future negotiations.

The Trump administration has repeatedly pushed for the treaty to include China, which has an expanding nuclear arsenal despite remaining much smaller than that of the United States and Russia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on February 4 that arms control is “impossible” without China’s participation.

However, Beijing has repeatedly refused to join the nuclear treaty with the US and Russia. On February 5, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regret that New START expired, but emphasized that the country would “not participate in negotiations on nuclear disarmament during this period”.

“China’s nuclear capabilities are completely different from those of the US and Russia,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian.

New START was signed by the US and Russia in 2010, and took effect a year later. The two countries in 2021 extended the treaty for another 5 years.

The treaty stipulates that each side must not deploy more than 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​and bombers carrying nuclear weapons, and the number of nuclear warheads on these means must not exceed 1,550.

Russia and the United States can both exceed this limit if New START is not extended or replaced by another agreement. Negotiations to extend the agreement in recent years have broken down due to tensions between the two countries, including the Ukraine issue.

Campaigners warn that the expiration of New START could spark a global arms race and call on nuclear powers to negotiate.