Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the phone conversation of American and Russian leaders provides a basis for the countries “to move forward”.

In an interview with Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Pompeo said Washington plans to start talks with Moscow and Beijing to work on new arrangements on a new arms control agreement.

“The conversation that President Trump had with President Putin was a good one. I think it provides a basis for us to begin to build out teams to move forward. President Trump is deeply aware that you need two partners who are prepared to comply with a treaty, so we need to make sure that unlike the INF, that we have a incentive system that will cause countries to actually comply.

President Trump also knows that we now have a third entrant. These treaties were decades past, when China was in a different place. It now presents a geostrategic threat as well. And so President Trump would very much like China to be part of any agreement that’s reached, and so we’ll endeavor to do that,” he said.