Us President, Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that he has instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing to match the programs of China and Russia, just minutes before opening a critical summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The announcement followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration on Wednesday that Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered underwater drone, despite repeated warnings from Washington.
“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump said in a social media post referencing both Russia and China.
Trump, who claimed credit for a “complete update and renovation” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, added that the United States still possesses more nuclear weapons than any other nation.
“Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years,” he wrote.
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), nine nations currently possess nuclear arms: the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. ICAN estimates there are about 12,331 warheads worldwide, with Russia holding around 5,500 and the U.S. about 5,044.
Trump provided no specific details on when or where the new tests would take place but said the process would “begin immediately.”
Putin’s announcement of a successful Poseidon drone test marked Russia’s second nuclear-capable weapons test in less than a week.
Speaking at a military hospital treating wounded Russian soldiers, Putin said the Poseidon drone torpedo could travel faster than submarines, dive deeper, and reach “any continent in the world.”
Trump had earlier criticized Putin for prioritizing weapons testing amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, saying he should “end the war instead of testing missiles.”
A planned meeting between the two leaders in Budapest last week was canceled.
The United States last conducted a nuclear test in September 1992 at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site, producing a 20-kiloton underground explosion.
The following month, then-President George H.W. Bush imposed a moratorium on nuclear testing, a policy maintained by every administration since.
In the decades since, Washington has relied on computer simulations and subcritical experiments, non-nuclear tests designed to ensure the reliability of its arsenal without violating test bans.
Trump’s new directive marks the first official reversal of that policy in more than three decades, signaling a potential escalation in the global nuclear arms race.
The U.S president is currently in South Korea, where he is set to meet with Xi Jinping for their first in-person talks since the start of his second term.
The high-stakes summit comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tension between Washington, Beijing, and Moscow.
