On Thursday, February 5, US President Trump stated that he would not extend the nuclear warhead limit treaty that was set to expire that day with Russia, and instead would seek to establish a new nuclear treaty. The President posted on the social media platform “Truth Social” that Washington should not extend the “failed negotiations” of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW START) with Russia, and should move forward with crafting a new nuclear treaty.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by then-US President Obama and Russian President Medvedev, aimed to restrict the deployment of deployable nuclear weapon systems by both parties and set limits on the number of activatable warheads. The treaty was based on mechanisms of mutual verification and data exchange. It is the last remaining arms control agreement between the US and Russia, which expired on February 5, 2026.
President Trump stated on Thursday that NEW START was a “poorly negotiated agreement from the past for the United States, and besides a host of other problems, the agreement itself has been seriously violated.”
“Extending NEW START as expected is not as beneficial as having our nuclear experts work on creating a new, enhanced, modernized treaty that can be effective in the long term,” the President wrote.
In January, during a media interview, Trump expressed his willingness to let the treaty expire and hoped that any new agreement would involve other parties.
“You might also want some other participants,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Wednesday that any new arms control agreement should include China.
“The President has previously made it clear that to achieve genuine arms control in the 21st century, any agreement cannot omit China, given the significant and rapidly growing nuclear arsenal of China (the CCP),” Rubio said.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian President, confirmed that the NEW START agreement had expired. Russia attributed the failure to renew the agreement to the US, stating that President Putin’s proposal to extend the agreement by a year did not receive a response from the US.
For the US, a key issue with nuclear weapon limitation treaties is China’s continuously expanding arsenal. It is estimated that currently, China possesses around 600 nuclear warheads, but the Pentagon estimates that by 2030, China will have over 1000 nuclear warheads.
Trump mentioned that he hoped to advance “denuclearization” with Russia and China together, but Beijing argues that it is unreasonable to expect them to engage in disarmament negotiations with two countries whose nuclear arsenal far exceeds theirs.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, stated on Thursday that China would not participate in trilateral arrangements.
Peskov stated on Thursday that during a call between Russian President Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday, they also discussed related issues, including international control of nuclear weapons and the potential negative impacts on strategic stability.
The White House said in a statement on Thursday, “The President (Trump) will decide the future direction of nuclear arms control and will clarify this on his own timeline.”
A NATO official told ABC News that both Russia and China have been expanding their nuclear arsenals in recent years. The official added that Russia has taken a “strategic deterrent posture” in nuclear rhetoric.
In the past year, Putin has been boasting about Russia’s nuclear capabilities, heavily promoting its emerging technologies such as the “Poseidon” system – an underwater torpedo carrying a nuclear warhead powered by nuclear energy. Tactical nuclear weapons like the “Poseidon” system are currently not covered by the New START treaty.
The NATO official stressed, “Maintaining restraint and responsibility in the nuclear field is crucial for global security.”