President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to begin testing US nuclear weapons in response to actions by rival countries, an announcement that came moments before his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Trump in a post on social media said, “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” naming Russia as second and China “a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump said on the final leg of his trip to Asia.
CNN has reached out to the White House and Department of Defense for comment.
The remark signals what could be a major shift in US policy, which “has observed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992,” according to the Library of Congress.
During his first term, the Trump administration said it wouldn’t carry out a nuclear weapons test “at this time.”
None of the three major nuclear powers – Russia, the United States and China – has tested a nuclear weapon since China in 1996. Russia’s last nuclear test was in 1990, and the US last exploded a nuclear device in 1992.
North Korea conducted the world’s last nuclear test in 2017.
But the world’s nuclear powers continue to develop and test the systems to deliver nuclear warheads.
Trump’s announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile.
North Korea said after testing cruise missiles earlier this week that it is taking steps to toughen its “nuclear combat posture.”
Meanwhile, the US Navy in September conducted four tests of its nuclear-capable Trident missiles.
China has constructed at least three complexes for launching ballistic missiles in recent years, and it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in 2024.
CNN reported in 2023 that the US, Russia and China had all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites in recent years, according to satellite imagery.
“There are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing,” Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told CNN at the time.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
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