Trump Calls for New Nuclear Treaty After New START Expires

President Donald Trump called for negotiations on a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia on Thursday, hours after the New START agreement expired, marking the end of the last major pact limiting the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. The development, amid heightened global tensions including Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, raises fears of an unconstrained arms buildup between the United States and Moscow.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump described New START as "a badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated." He advocated for nuclear experts to draft "a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," while claiming his administration had prevented nuclear conflicts from erupting between nations such as Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine. Trump did not provide specifics on the proposed treaty's terms but has previously emphasized including China, whose nuclear capabilities have expanded rapidly in recent years.

New START, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, took effect in 2011 and limited each side to...