President Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will resume nuclear weapons testing in lockstep with its foreign adversaries, specifically Russia and China.
He wrote on Truth Social:
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. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is 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. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Aboard Air Force One, the President told reporters that the move was in response to recent nuclear weapon tests conducted by American adversaries. Recently, Russia bragged of a long-range nuclear missile that spent 15 hours in the air with a more than 8,000 mile range. They also said it was capable of breaching missile defenses. President Trump responded by reminding the Russians that they had an American nuclear submarine right off their coast.
"It had to do with others — they seemed to all be nuclear testing. We have more nuclear weapons than anybody. We don’t do testing. We halted it many years ago, but with others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also," Trump said.
President Trump did not provide further details on where and when testing might take place.
"It’ll be announced. You know, we have test sites. It’ll be announced," he continued.
When asked whether the new tests might increase global tension, President Trump denied the possibility.
"I don’t think so. I think we have it pretty well locked up," he said. "But we have more than anybody, and I see them testing. I say, well, they’re testing, we have to test too. I’d like to see a deneutralization … because we have so many. Russia’s second and China’s third. China will catch up within four or five years. I think de-escalation, or denuclearization, would be tremendous. We’re actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something."