President Trump and Chinese President Xi meet in South Korea
President Donald Trump concluded his five-day trip to Asia with a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
President Donald Trump announced on October 29 that the United States would resume nuclear weapons testing “immediately.”
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump touted the progress made in modernizing nuclear weapons during his first term. But he warned that China’s nuclear weapons buildup would put its arsenal on par with those of the United States and Russia “within five years.”
“Due to other countries’ nuclear testing programs, I have directed the Department of the Army to begin testing our nuclear weapons equally,” Trump said.
The move appears to signal an abrupt end to 33 years in which the United States did not test nuclear weapons. The moratorium on nuclear explosions was introduced by former President George H.W. Bush, and the United States signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. The Senate voted against ratifying the treaty.
Although China and Russia have upgraded their historic nuclear test sites in recent years, only North Korea has detonated a nuclear weapon since 1998.
It was not immediately clear from President Trump’s post whether the United States would launch a nuclear warhead before Russia or China. These three countries and other nuclear-weapon states regularly test nuclear delivery platforms. Russia has tested new nuclear-powered cruise missiles and nuclear torpedoes in recent days, and the United States tested a Minuteman III nuclear missile in May.
The announcement was made as President Trump visited Kimhae Air Base in South Korea for a much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This will be President Xi Jinping’s first face-to-face meeting since he returned to the presidency earlier this year. During his first term, President Trump unsuccessfully tried to start trilateral arms control talks with Mr. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President Trump did not answer reporters’ questions about why he changed the United States’ stance on nuclear testing at the same time his meeting with President Xi began.
Nuclear weapons expert: President Trump’s announcement ‘could cause strong public backlash in Nevada’
The president’s announcement has puzzled nuclear weapons experts, some of whom believe Trump’s post may have referred to missile flight tests or non-explosive nuclear tests.
Darryl Kimball, president of the Arms Control Association and a nuclear weapons expert, said the United States has “no technical, military, or political reason to resume nuclear explosive testing.” In a series of posts on X, Kimball added that President Trump’s announcement could “spark a strong public backlash in Nevada,” draw condemnation from allies for the U.S.’s history of underground nuclear tests, “trigger a chain reaction of nuclear tests by America’s adversaries,” and “disrupt” international agreements that have deterred countries from building and testing nuclear weapons.
Another nuclear nonproliferation expert, Andrea Stricker of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Trump needs to “clarify what a nuclear test” means.
“It’s possible that they would authorize a low-yield nuclear test instead of a full-scale nuclear test, like what Russia and China are doing,” Stricker said on the X show, theorizing that President Trump might be looking to start new arms control negotiations before the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty expires in February 2026.
A Department of Energy spokesperson and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment.
Brandon Williams, President Trump’s appointee to head the National Nuclear Security Administration, told lawmakers in April that he would recommend the administration not restart nuclear weapons testing.
Contributor: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
Davis Winkie’s role covers nuclear threats and national security for USA TODAY. Outrider Foundation and Journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
