U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 1992, a move that stunned allies and adversaries alike just minutes before a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform while flying aboard Marine One to Busan, where he is holding trade and security talks with Xi. He said his decision was driven by the need to ensure that the United States maintains nuclear parity with Russia and China.
“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote.
“Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.”
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to nuclear explosive testing, which would violate the global moratorium observed since the early 1990s, or to flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles. The White House and Pentagon have not yet clarified the nature or timing of the tests.
The United States last conducted a full-scale nuclear test in September 1992 at the Nevada Test Site, after which it signed and observed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), though the treaty was never ratified by Washington.
Trump’s order comes amid rapid global nuclear escalation, with both Russia and China expanding their arsenals and showcasing new weapons systems.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced successful tests of a nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon nuclear torpedo, capable of creating massive radioactive tsunamis along enemy coastlines.
Beijing, meanwhile, has more than doubled its nuclear stockpile in the past five years, from around 300 warheads in 2020 to about 600 in 2025, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). U.S. defense officials estimate China could possess over 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030, including several capable of reaching the continental United States.
Nuclear experts say that a U.S. return to testing would represent a major reversal in global nonproliferation policy and could provoke a new arms race among the world’s nuclear powers.
“Any renewed testing by the United States would almost certainly be mirrored by Russia and China,” said a senior analyst at the CSIS, warning that such a move “could collapse decades of restraint.”
Earlier this year, Trump had signaled interest in negotiating new nuclear arms control agreements with both Putin and Xi, but Beijing dismissed the idea as “unrealistic” given its smaller arsenal.
Despite his order, Trump told reporters this week that he wanted Russia “focused on ending the war in Ukraine instead of testing missiles.”
The United States began its nuclear weapons era in July 1945, with the Trinity test in New Mexico, followed weeks later by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.
Analysts say the resumption of testing, if carried out, would mark a historic shift in U.S. defense policy, signaling a new phase of nuclear competition among the world’s major powers.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
