Trump Orders Pentagon to Immediately Resume Nuclear Testing

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year pause. He made this surprise announcement on the Truth Social social network minutes before starting trade negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea. Trump stated that he had instructed the Pentagon to test the US nuclear arsenal on "equal footing" in response to the actions of other nuclear powers. "That process will begin immediately," he wrote.

Trump's decision is conditioned by China's recent rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal and Russia's testing of new weapons. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, Beijing has doubled its nuclear arsenal in the last 5 years to about 600 warheads, and it is predicted that this number will exceed 1,000 by 2030. Meanwhile, Russia recently announced the successful tests of the "Poseidon" nuclear super-torpedo and the "Burevestnik" cruise missile. Trump, commenting on the actions of Russian President Putin, noted that "instead of testing missiles," he should be focused on ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump's announcement has already provoked a negative reaction. House Representative Dina Titus, a Democrat, announced that she will introduce a legislative initiative to halt this process. According to Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, it would take the US at least 36 months to resume underground nuclear tests at the former Nevada test site. He described Trump's decision as "uninformed" and warned that it "could trigger a chain reaction of nuclear tests by US adversaries and undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

It is not yet clear whether this refers to tests involving a nuclear explosion or to test flights of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. However, in any case, experts are convinced that Russia and China will view such a move as a deliberate step to demonstrate US strategic power. It is worth noting that the US last conducted a nuclear test in 1992, Russia in 1990, and China in 1996.