WashingtonThe White House seems ready to dust off the red phone. On Wednesday evening, just minutes before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Donald Trump announced the new directive to the Pentagon to resume “immediately” nuclear weapons testing. The decision also comes amid recent tests of nuclear-capable weapons by Russia since the Budapest summit to end the Ukraine war was suspended. The president has announced on Truth Social his decision as a way to put the United States on a nuclear “level playing field” with Russia and China.
“The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country,” the president wrote to Truth Social, adding: “Russia is second and China a distant third, but will match us in five years. As other countries are testing their programs, I have ordered the War Department [com ha rebatejat el departament de Defensa] to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal footing. That process will begin immediately.”
The announcement upends decades of nuclear policy in which Washington halted nuclear testing for more than 30 years. The last test was in 1992, before former President George HW Bush implemented a moratorium on such tests at the end of the Cold War. The White House has not yet commented on the president’s words, nor has it given further details on what kind of nuclear tests would be involved.
Although Trump has accused Beijing and Moscow of conducting nuclear tests, the reality is that the former has not conducted one since 1996, and there is no confirmation beyond 1990 that Russia has conducted one either. It is true that China is expanding its arsenal, while in recent days the Kremlin has conducted tests with weapons that have nuclear capabilities. It first announced that it had successfully tested the long-range nuclear-powered cruise missile “Burevestnik”, and this Wednesday it announced a test with a nuclear-capable submarine named “Poseidon”.
During his first presidency, Trump already considered resuming nuclear testing with a test detonation in 2020, the The Washington Post. Everything, in order to put pressure on the negotiations with China and Russia. Now, he is also doing so amid failed negotiations with Putin for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
