Before Xi Jinping Summit, Trump Orders Pentagon to Resume Nuclear Weapons Test
Trump Orders Pentagon to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing, Upending Decades of U.S. Policy Just Before Xi Jinping Summit
In a move that has stunned arms control experts, rattled global allies, and dramatically reshaped the tone of U.S. foreign policy, President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform “Truth Social” that he has ordered the Pentagon to prepare for nuclear weapons tests “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. The declaration—made just minutes before his high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju, South Korea—marks a sharp reversal of over three decades of American nuclear restraint and threatens to reignite a dangerous era of explosive great-power competition.
The United States has not conducted a live nuclear explosion since September 23, 1992, when the final test—codenamed “Divider”—was carried out beneath the Nevada desert. Shortly thereafter, President George H. W. Bush imposed a moratorium on all nuclear testing, a policy upheld by every subsequent U.S. administration, Republican and Democrat alike. Though the U.S. signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, it never ratified it, leaving the door technically ajar—but politically sealed—for a return to testing. Until now.
Trump’s announcement, however, raises more questions than answers. For one, the Department of Defense does not oversee nuclear tests; that responsibility lies with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). More critically, experts stress that the U.S. is not operationally ready to resume underground detonations. According to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, “It would take at least 36 months to prepare the Nevada National Security Site for a live test.” This suggests Trump’s statement may be less a concrete directive and more a calculated provocation—delivered at a moment of maximum diplomatic sensitivity.
The timing is no coincidence. With Xi Jinping seated just steps away, Trump chose to inject nuclear brinkmanship into a summit already burdened by trade tensions, rare earth export controls, and the fentanyl crisis. His reference to testing “on equal footing” with Russia and China appears designed to project strength, yet it misrepresents reality. Neither Russia nor China has conducted a nuclear explosion since the 1990s—Moscow’s last test was in 1990, Beijing’s in 1996. North Korea remains the only nation to have detonated a nuclear device in the 21st century, with its last test in 2017.
Moreover, Trump’s claim that the U.S. possesses the world’s largest nuclear arsenal is factually incorrect. Independent assessments, including those from the Federation of American Scientists, consistently show Russia maintains a slight edge in total warheads, with both nations far outpacing China’s smaller but rapidly modernizing stockpile. German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung swiftly corrected the record, noting the inaccuracy in Trump’s post.
Still, the symbolic weight of his threat is immense. By invoking nuclear testing just before engaging China’s leader, Trump appears to be leveraging existential fear as a bargaining chip—a tactic reminiscent of his “fire and fury” rhetoric toward North Korea in 2017. Yet this gambit carries profound risks. Resuming nuclear tests would not only violate the global norm against explosive testing but could trigger a cascade of responses: Russia might abandon its own moratorium, China could accelerate its arsenal expansion, and non-nuclear states may lose faith in the Non-Proliferation Treaty altogether.
The irony is especially acute given Trump’s recent efforts to brand himself as a peacemaker. He has publicly floated his candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize and touted his diplomatic outreach to adversaries. Yet this nuclear saber-rattling undermines that narrative, revealing a persistent tension in his foreign policy: the simultaneous pursuit of détente and dominance.
Adding to the confusion, Trump referenced Russia’s recent tests of nuclear-powered delivery systems—such as the Poseidon super-torpedo and the Burevestnik cruise missile—but these involve propulsion technology, not live nuclear detonations. As The Washington Post clarified, President Vladimir Putin has so far refrained from crossing the threshold of actual explosive testing.
Western media have responded with alarm. The Guardian noted that despite rhetorical commitments from both Washington and Moscow to curb the arms race, tangible progress has stalled. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has criticized Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense shield as destabilizing—a system he claims would render the U.S. “invulnerable” to attack, further fueling mutual suspicion.
This latest episode also echoes Trump’s 2016 tweet: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” Now, eight years later, that vision appears to be evolving from rhetoric toward readiness—even if the technical and political hurdles remain formidable.
In the end, whether Trump’s order leads to an actual test may matter less than the message it sends: that the nuclear taboo, carefully preserved since the Cold War’s end, is once again negotiable. In a world already strained by great-power rivalry, climate crisis, and democratic backsliding, the return of nuclear testing would not just be a policy shift—it would be a historic rupture. And for global security, the fallout could be incalculable.
