Strategic Arms Limitation White House Statement.

The President expects that a verifiable agreement on strategic arms limitations which protects American strategic interests can be negotiated and will be ratified.

The President's position is that this agreement will be submitted for Senate ratification as a treaty. If the Soviet Union, in the absence of a SALT treaty, were to engage in a significant arms buildup, the President would, of course, match it appropriately. By the same token, it is the President's intention not to escalate the arms race unilaterally in the absence of a treaty if comparable and verifiable restraint is shown by the Soviet Union.