U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday night that he has instructed the Department of War to immediately begin testing U.S. nuclear weapons, a dramatic reversal of a decades-long self-imposed moratorium on explosive nuclear tests.
The directive was issued in a post on his Truth Social platform, where the President claimed the action was necessary “Because of other countries’ testing programs,” and that the U.S. would test “on an equal basis.”
“That process will begin immediately,” the President stated.
The announcement comes on the eve of a scheduled high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, raising geopolitical tensions in an already fraught region.
The United States has not conducted an explosive nuclear test since 1992, adhering to a unilateral moratorium and signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, though the Senate never ratified it. Successive administrations have maintained the moratorium, relying instead on advanced simulation and subcritical experiments to ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
President Trump’s post signaled a sharp departure from this policy, though it did not specify the location or nature of the “testing.” The move is likely to draw immediate condemnation from arms control advocates and many U.S. allies, who view the cessation of testing as a critical element of global stability and non-proliferation efforts.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office,” Trump wrote.
President Trump’s justification for the immediate resumption of testing centered on the actions of other nuclear powers:
“Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” he asserted.
The statement follows a recent public rebuke by President Trump directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia announced it had tested a nuclear-powered missile. The timing of the U.S. testing order—just hours before a critical meeting with President Xi—further links the decision to escalating great-power competition.
The directive puts the Pentagon under pressure to rapidly implement a decision that runs counter to three decades of U.S. nuclear policy, and the global norm against nuclear explosions.
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