START treaty expiring in March

President Donald Trump has an opportunity to avoid the dangers of an

unrestrained nuclear arms competition—something he has repeatedly warned
about. New START, the last treaty limiting US and Russian nuclear arms,
expires this coming February. This happens as China is engaged in a rapid
nuclear buildup, Russia is building exotic new nuclear delivery systems and
rattling its nuclear saber over the war in Ukraine, and North Korea
continues its smaller but still frightening nuclear expansion with weapons
now able to reach the continental United States. To deter all these threats
at once, many people in Washington are arguing that the United States
should leap past the New START limits when the treaty expires, adding
hundreds or even thousands of additional nuclear warheads. That, however,
would mean a world with no limits at all on strategic nuclear forces for
the first time in half a century. A US nuclear buildup, coupled with
growing US missile defenses, would likely provoke still further buildups in
Russia and China, leading to all the unpredictability and risk of a nuclear
competition with no agreed limits. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has
just opened an opportunity to avoid that, at least for now.

 Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 25th Sept 2025

 https://thebulletin.org/2025/09/putin-just-gave-trump-the-opportunity-to-maintain-nuclear-restraint-will-he-seize-it/