Busan, South Korea – In a dramatic escalation of nuclear posturing, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has directed the Pentagon to immediately resume testing of US nuclear weapons, breaking a 33-year moratorium that has been a cornerstone of global non-proliferation efforts since 1992. The order, posted on Trump's Truth Social platform just minutes before his high-stakes bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Gimhae International Airport, cited the need to "keep pace" with testing programs in rival nations like Russia and China. The announcement, delivered while Trump was en route aboard Marine One helicopter, has sent shockwaves through international diplomatic circles, raising fears of a renewed arms race and potential unraveling of key treaties.
"Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Trump wrote, employing his administration's preferred nomenclature for the Department of Defense. "That process will begin immediately. 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. Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years."
The timing of the post could not have been more charged. It came mere hours after Xi's plane touched down in Busan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, marking the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since Trump's 2019 summit with Xi at the G20 in Osaka, Japan. The encounter, held on the sidelines of the APEC forum, lasted approximately one hour and 40 minutes and focused primarily on trade tensions, including tariffs on Chinese goods, restrictions on rare earth mineral exports, the fentanyl crisis, and agricultural purchases like soybeans. Trump later described the talks as "amazing" and a "12 out of 10," claiming breakthroughs that could lead to a formal trade deal signed as early as next spring during a planned US visit to Beijing.
Yet, the shadow of the nuclear announcement loomed large over the discussions. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he departed South Korea for Washington, Trump reiterated that the resumption was "appropriate" to match adversaries, though he deferred specifics on test sites and timelines. "We'll determine the locations later, but it's time to level the playing field," he said. "We've got the best, but others are catching up fast." The vagueness has fueled speculation: Does this refer to full-scale explosive detonations, subcritical experiments, or merely flight tests of delivery systems? Experts caution that any explosive test would require congressional notification and could take 24 to 36 months to prepare, per a recent Congressional Research Service report.
The US has not conducted a live nuclear explosion since September 23, 1992, when the "Divider" test—a 20-kiloton underground detonation at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS)—closed out 1,054 total American tests. That final blast came amid the Cold War's thaw, following the Soviet Union's collapse. President George H.W. Bush, responding to global calls for restraint, imposed a unilateral moratorium on testing in October 1992 via the Hatfield-Exon-Mitchell Amendment, which barred funding for US tests unless the Soviets (later Russia) resumed theirs. President Bill Clinton extended the pause in 1993, shifting focus to computer simulations and the Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program under the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). This initiative, now a $2 billion annual endeavor, uses advanced modeling, laser facilities like the National Ignition Facility, and non-explosive experiments to certify the reliability of the US's approximately 3,700 warheads without detonations.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), signed by Clinton in 1996, further enshrined this commitment, though the US Senate rejected ratification in 1999. No major power except North Korea has detonated a nuclear device this century—Pyongyang's last was in 2017. Russia ceased in 1990, China in 1996, and both have adhered to a voluntary moratorium alongside the US, France, and the UK. Trump's order marks a stark reversal, echoing unheeded proposals from his first term and the conservative Project 2025 blueprint, which advocated rejecting CTBT ratification and restoring "immediate test readiness" at NNSS to counter peer competitors.
Trump's move arrives against a backdrop of intensified nuclear saber-rattling from Moscow and Beijing, which he explicitly invoked as justification. Just days earlier, on October 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the "successful" test of the Burevestnik (NATO: SSC-X-9 Skyfall), a nuclear-powered cruise missile touted for its "unlimited range" and ability to evade missile defenses. Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported the October 21 flight lasted 15 hours, covering 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) over the Arctic, powered by a compact nuclear reactor. Unveiled by Putin in 2018 as part of a "superweapons" suite, the Burevestnik has faced setbacks, including a 2019 explosion that killed five engineers and released radiation in the White Sea. Critics, including nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute, dub it a "tiny flying Chernobyl" for its radiological risks, arguing its subsonic speed makes it vulnerable to interception despite Kremlin hype.
Compounding Moscow's provocations, Putin on October 29 revealed a test of the Poseidon (NATO: Kanyon) nuclear-powered underwater drone, a 100-tonne behemoth capable of generating radioactive tsunamis to devastate coastal cities. Carrying a two-megaton warhead—over 100 times Hiroshima's yield—Poseidon breaks traditional deterrence norms, per arms control analysts. These developments follow Russia's October 22 strategic nuclear drills, involving Yars and Sineva ICBM launches, and come amid stalled Ukraine ceasefire talks. Trump, en route to Asia earlier this week, lambasted Putin for prioritizing "missile tests" over ending the "third-year war that should have lasted one week." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded coolly to Trump's announcement, noting Russia's adherence to the moratorium and warning that any US departure would prompt "symmetrical measures," per Putin's repeated statements.
China's role in the equation is equally fraught. Beijing has not conducted an explosive test since 1996 but has aggressively modernized its arsenal, expanding from 300 warheads in 2020 to an estimated 600 by 2025, according to the Federation of American Scientists and Pentagon assessments. Projections suggest over 1,000 by 2030, including new silo fields for DF-41 solid-fuel ICBMs and liquid-fuel DF-5 variants. Recent advancements include flight tests of the DF-27 hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) in February 2023, covering 2,100 kilometers, and a fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) that could skirt US early-warning radars by looping over the South Pole. In August 2025, the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force released footage of a DF-31AG ICBM test—the first to splash down in international waters since 1980—landing near French Polynesia's nuclear-free zone.
Satellite imagery reveals resumed construction at Lop Nur, China's Xinjiang test site dormant for nearly three decades. New tunnels and vertical shafts, analyzed by experts Renny Babiarz and Jason Wang, suggest preparations for potential underground tests to validate novel warhead designs, such as lower-yield options or MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles) configurations. China notified the US before a September 2024 DF-31AG launch from Hainan, a rare transparency gesture amid deepening distrust. Xi's "no first use" policy persists, but investments in H-6N bombers and Type 096 submarines signal a maturing triad.
Reactions to Trump's order have been swift and polarized. At home, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, a Republican, expressed concerns over environmental and health impacts at NNSS, site of 928 past tests that contaminated groundwater and air, contributing to "downwinder" cancers. The Nevada Legislature's May resolution urged maintaining the moratorium, citing risks to Las Vegas's 2.3 million residents. Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball warned of a "chain reaction" of tests by adversaries, potentially shredding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and spurring proliferation in Iran or Saudi Arabia. "The US has no technical need for explosive tests," Kimball said on X, noting stewardship program's success.
Internationally, China's Foreign Ministry urged Washington to "abide by its moratorium commitment and uphold global strategic stability." A senior Russian lawmaker decried it as ushering "unpredictability and confrontation." Allies like the UK and Japan voiced unease; Tokyo, hosting 54,000 US troops, fears regional escalation. Nonproliferation advocates, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, called it a "dangerous step back," evoking 1950s-60s tests that irradiated Pacific atolls and global fallout.
Supporters, including Trump allies like Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), hailed it as "prudent deterrence," arguing simulations can't fully replicate real blasts for next-gen warheads. The NNSA maintains "no technical reasons" for tests, per an August 2024 statement, but readiness exercises could accelerate under the order.
As Trump returned stateside, the world braces for fallout—literal and figurative. This pivot not only reopens a scarred chapter of history but intersects with trade diplomacy, where Trump touted Xi concessions on fentanyl precursors (linked to 100,000 US overdose deaths yearly) and rare earths vital for semiconductors. A planned April 2026 China visit could test if economic olive branches temper nuclear brinkmanship. For now, Trump's "equal basis" gambit underscores a unipolar era's end, thrusting humanity toward an era where the taboo on nuclear tests—forged in ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—teeters on the brink.
Yet, beneath the bluster lies a stark reality: The US arsenal, modernized via a $1.7 trillion program through 2040, remains peerless in delivery sophistication. Resuming tests risks eroding moral high ground without commensurate gains, potentially accelerating the very parity Trump seeks to forestall. As global stocks dipped 1.2% on the news and NPT signatories convene emergency talks in Vienna next week, the question lingers: Is this bold strategy or reckless provocation? History, scarred by 2,000+ global tests' legacy of 2.4 million tons of TNT-equivalent destruction, offers a grim caution.
