Trump Orders Immediate Nuclear Weapons Testing

President Donald Trump announced he had instructed the Pentagon to "immediately" begin testing U.S. nuclear weapons, saying the U.S. should act "on an equal basis" if other countries test, but he and administration officials have not clarified whether he meant underground warhead detonations, missile tests, or other experiments. The comments, made just before a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping and after recent Russian weapons announcements, prompted confusion inside and outside government and drew no detailed response from the Pentagon or the Energy Department. The United States has not conducted live nuclear detonations since 1992 (about 33 years), and experts warn that resuming explosive tests would be a dangerous escalation that could spur an expanded arms race and further erode arms-control norms such as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Reviving a U.S. test program would likely take years, cost hundreds of millions of dollars — estimates include roughly $100 million to excavate a new Nevada test shaft — and require scarce personnel with hands‑on testing experience, while disarmament advocates highlight long-lasting environmental and health harms from past tests. With policy specifics still unclear, analysts say the announcement appears partly a strategic signal to rivals but leaves major legal, technical and diplomatic questions unresolved.