Trump orders nuclear weapons testing to begin immediately on equal basisuclear weapons testing to begin immediately on equal basis

president Donald TrumpDeclaration that the United States will recover Nuclear weapons tests — something the United States has not done since 1992 — left experts, lawmakers and the military scratching their heads on Thursday.

The president announced this ahead of his important meeting with the Chinese president Xi Jinping, He is instructing the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal footing” with Russia and China, and that the process of testing these weapons will begin immediately.

“They all appear to be nuclear tests,” Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One. He added: “We are not conducting tests, we stopped them years ago. But with others doing tests, it is appropriate that we do so as well.”

It’s unclear exactly what Trump means, as no country has conducted a known nuclear test since North Korea in 2017. The last known tests by China and Russia date back to the 1990s, when Russia was still the Soviet Union.

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President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shake hands before their meeting at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

The White House did not provide comment on Fox News Digital. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

However, those analyzing the president’s comments say Trump may have been referring to ramping up testing of nuclear weapons systems or conducting secret tests of low-yield nuclear weapons.

Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called the announcement a “power move” by Trump ahead of Xi’s meeting, and said one option the president might consider is allowing low-yield nuclear explosive tests beyond the zero-threshold set out in the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions.

Although ratification by the United States and many other countries is necessary for the treaty to enter into force, the treaty did not establish any procedure for nuclear testing as a global norm, and the United States, Russia, and China have since maintained a moratorium on large-scale nuclear testing.

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The United States has detailed in multiple reports that it suspects Russia and China may have been conducting low-throughput testing for years, one expert says. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

However, Stricker said the United States has detailed in multiple reports that it suspects Russia and China may have conducted low-throughput testing for years, despite a moratorium set out in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. For example, retired Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley Jr. said in 2019, while serving as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, that the United States believed Russia was not committing to halting nuclear testing “in a manner consistent with the zero standard.”

As a result, Stricker said so Trump’s comments suggest he will match that Actions of nearby opponents.

“The president’s statement implies reciprocity: He will increase testing as they do, putting the onus on Moscow and Beijing to rein in their efforts,” Stricker said in an email Thursday to Fox News Digital. “Trump may also seek to engage the two countries in arms control talks with the remaining U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty, New START, set to expire in February 2026 and China rejecting such talks.”

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Meanwhile, Navy Vice Adm. Richard Coryell, whom Trump nominated to lead U.S. Strategic Command, told lawmakers Thursday during his confirmation hearing that while he had no insight into Trump’s thinking, the president may have been discussing testing of nuclear-powered weapons delivery systems, such as ballistic and cruise missiles.

Correll said that since China and Russia had not conducted a nuclear test to his knowledge, he was “not reading anything into or from it” when lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee asked about the president’s statement. However, Curiel said he would be ready to implement the president’s directives if his appointment is confirmed.

The US Strategic Command is a combat command that oversees military operations nuclear deterrent For the US Army.

Russia recently announced that it successfully tested its new Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile. In the picture is Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Vyacheslav Prokofiev, Sputnik, Kremlin Complex Image via AP)

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The recent Russian missile test also “lends credence” to the possibility that Trump intended to test nuclear-powered weapons delivery systems, Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, told Fox News Digital.

Russia announced on Sunday that it had successfully tested its new Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile, which NATO has dubbed “Skyfall.” This announcement came after the Trump administration imposed strict sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies.

Kroenig, who previously worked on nuclear and defense policy at the Pentagon and helped draft the 2018 US Nuclear Posture Review, said Trump’s statement could signal the end of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told reporters Thursday that it is critical that the president respond accordingly to actors, such as the Russian president. Vladimir Putin, Those who possess nuclear weapons.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told reporters that it is critical that the president respond accordingly to actors, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, that possess nuclear weapons. (Al Drago Ball/Getty Images)

“When you have a crazy man with nuclear weapons like Putin and he starts swinging his sword, it’s important for the president to respond,” Risch said. “He responded in a reasonable manner.”

Democrats had a different view. The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, said Trump “got it wrong” on nuclear weapons policy and said resuming nuclear weapons testing could upend decades of nonproliferation efforts.

“Breaking the moratorium on explosive testing that the United States, Russia and China have maintained since the 1990s would be strategically reckless, inevitably prompting Moscow and Beijing to resume their own testing programs,” Reed said in a statement Thursday. Moreover, American tests of explosives would provide the justification for Pakistan, India, and North Korea to expand their testing regimes, destabilizing the already fragile global nonproliferation architecture at the moment we can least afford it.

“The United States has very little to gain from such tests, and we will sacrifice decades of hard-won progress in nuclear nonproliferation,” Reid said.

Meanwhile Vice President J.D. Vance He told reporters Thursday that while the president will continue to work on nuclear proliferation, tests will be conducted to ensure the weapons are operating at their maximum potential.

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“It’s an important part of American national security to make sure that this nuclear arsenal that we have is working properly,” Vance said. “This is part of a testing system. To be clear, we know it works, but you have to stay on top of it over time. And the president just wants to make sure we do that for his nation.”

Chad Pergram of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.