President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to begin US nuclear weapons testing in response to the actions of rival nations, an announcement made shortly before his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump stated in a social media post: “The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country,” naming Russia as second and China as a “distant third, but that will change in 5 years too.” “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have ordered the Department of War to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. This process will begin immediately,” Trump said on the last day of his trip to Asia. CNN reached out to the White House and the Department of Defense for comment. This remark signals a possible serious shift in US policy, which has “observed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992,” according to the Library of Congress. During his first term, the Trump administration had stated it would not conduct nuclear weapons testing “at this time.” None of the three major nuclear powers—Russia, the United States, and China—have tested nuclear weapons since China’s tests in 1996. Russia’s last nuclear test was in 1990, and the US last detonated a nuclear device in 1992. North Korea conducted the most recent nuclear test in the world in 2017. Meanwhile, world nuclear powers continue to develop and test nuclear warhead delivery systems. Trump’s announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country had successfully tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile, the “Burevestnik.” North Korea stated after its cruise missile tests this week that it is taking measures to heighten its “combat nuclear posture.” In the meantime, the US Navy conducted four tests of its nuclear-capable Trident cruise missiles in September. China has constructed at least three ballistic missile launch complexes in recent years and conducted a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in 2024. CNN reported in 2023 that, according to satellite imagery, the US, Russia, and China have built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites in recent years. “There are actually many hints that we are seeing that indicate that Russia, China, and the United States may resume nuclear testing,” Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told CNN at the time.
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