January 21, 2025 1pm-2pm ET
On Feb. 5, the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will expire. At that point, there will be no legally-binding limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, which are the world's largest.
To date, President Trump has failed to engage Russia (or China) in what he calls "denuclearization” talks. He has also failed to formally respond to a September 22 Russian proposal for the United States and Russia to respect the central limits of New START for one-year.
When asked about New START in July, Trump said it "is a big problem for the world, when you take off nuclear restrictions." In a recent interview with The New York Times, he said: "If it expires, it expires.” He added: "I’d rather do a new agreement that’s much better.” Trump also claimed that he thinks that President Xi of China “would be a willing participant” in a nuclear restraint deal.
Although, neither China nor Washington have formally pursued bilateral talks on nuclear matters with each other since January 2025, Trump is scheduled to meet Xi later this year.
In the absence of any new nuclear constraints, the United States and Russia will be free to increase the number of deployed strategic arsenals for the first time in decades.
How the next chapter in nuclear history will unfold is yet to be determined.
On Jan. 21 from 1-2pm Eastern Time, the Arms Control Association will bring together leading experts on nuclear weapons and arms control policy, including the former U.S. New START negotiator, will address key questions and outline possible solutions on:
- the potential for resuming bilateral talks on nuclear constraints with Russia,
- how, realistically, China might be involved in the nuclear risk reduction and arms control enterprise,
- the risks, costs, and realities of a possible decision by Russia and/or the United States to increase the size of their deployed nuclear arsenals, and
- how the absence of progress on nuclear disarmament diplomacy will affect the debate at the 2026 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.
Register Today!
Panelists include:
Rose Gottemoeller: chief U.S. negotiator for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and former NATO deputy secretary-general
Kingston Reif: senior international/defense researcher at the RAND Corporation and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control
Daryl G. Kimball: executive director of the Arms Control Association
Tom Countryman (moderator): chair of the board of directors of the Arms Control Association