Move comes as part of broader strategy to counter Beijing and Moscow
President Donald Trump said he has ordered the Department of War to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing, marking a major shift in U.S. defense policy just minutes before a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, stating that nuclear testing must resume so the United States can operate “on an equal basis” with Russia and China.
The U.S. has not conducted live nuclear weapons tests since 1992, maintaining a voluntary moratorium for over three decades.
Unclear if full explosive tests planned
Trump did not clarify whether the order includes full-scale explosive tests — which involve live warhead detonations — or if it refers to other types of testing, such as missile delivery trials or subcritical experiments.
No details have been provided on a timetable, testing locations, or which federal agencies would oversee implementation. Questions also remain about how the decision would intersect with existing arms control frameworks, including the unratified Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
As The New York Times reports:
It was not clear what prompted the announcement, which Mr. Trump appeared to have made while in Marine One, the presidential helicopter, as he was flying to meet Mr. Xi. But he may well have been angered by recent tests of exotic nuclear delivery systems by Russia.
In the past few days, President Vladimir V. Putin said Russia had successfully tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile, and separately, a nuclear torpedo called the Poseidon. The torpedo is designed to travel under the Pacific from Russia’s east to hit the American West Coast.
Those systems were known to observers; Mr. Putin showed them off during Mr. Trump’s first term. It is unclear whether they are fully operational. And Mr. Putin’s saber rattling, in the wake of fizzled plans for a summit meeting with Mr. Trump about Ukraine, consisted of tests of the delivery vehicles; he did not detonate any nuclear weapons.
For years, American nuclear weapons engineers have said that more nuclear testing was unnecessary, since they could model tests on a computer rather than risk the kind of detonations that were once set off in the Pacific or underground in Nevada. But in recent years, as the United States has begun to modernize its aging arsenal, there have been calls to resume testing.
Trade truce follows Busan summit
The nuclear announcement came just before Trump met with Xi in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday. Following the talks, both sides announced a one-year trade truce, which officials expect to be extended beyond 2026.
As part of the agreement, Beijing will suspend broad export controls on rare earth minerals it introduced on Oct. 9. These minerals are essential to U.S. defense, manufacturing, and tech industries.
U.S. to ease tariffs tied to fentanyl crackdown
In exchange, Washington will reduce a key tariff rate on Chinese goods linked to fentanyl trafficking. The 20% rate, imposed earlier in 2025, will be lowered to 10%. That adjustment drops the overall average tariff on Chinese goods from 57% to roughly 47%.
China also pledged to ramp up efforts to curb the export of precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid fueling an ongoing crisis in the U.S.
Agriculture exports to resume
Beijing further agreed to immediately restart large-scale purchases of American soybeans and other agricultural commodities, a significant win for U.S. farmers who have been caught in the crosshairs of the trade war.
Oversight and international fallout uncertain
The White House has not released any formal guidance or documentation regarding the nuclear testing directive. Congressional reaction has been limited so far, and it’s unclear how lawmakers — particularly those on armed services and foreign affairs committees — will respond.
International reaction, particularly from U.S. allies and arms control organizations, is also expected in the days to come.
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