With Trump Mum, Last US-Russia Nuclear Pact Set to End

With no clear signal from President Donald Trump, the final remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia is set to expire, raising fears of a new global arms race.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which has limited nuclear deployments since 2010, will lapse this week unless extended at the last moment. Its expiration will remove caps on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, ending decades of Cold War-era arms control.

Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to extend the pact and Trump’s earlier remark that such a move “sounds like a good idea,” Washington has taken no formal steps. Officials say the president wants future talks to include China, but no timeline has been announced.

Arms control experts warn that the lack of action reflects administrative inertia and internal disarray, rather than a clear policy choice. They say Trump and Putin could still revive the agreement quickly through direct talks, but time is running out.

Russia has already suspended inspections under the treaty, while Trump has floated resuming nuclear testing. Analysts in both countries say the treaty’s collapse could trigger renewed weapons development and weaken global security.

New START caps each side’s deployed warheads at 1,550 and limits delivery systems. It was extended by President Joe Biden in 2021 until 2026, but no successor framework is in place.

Without a replacement, the United States and Russia — which together hold about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons — will be unconstrained for the first time in half a century.