Overview
- Trump posted the directive on Truth Social minutes before meeting Xi Jinping in Busan, saying tests would start immediately but giving no technical specifics on what would be conducted or by whom.
- China urged the U.S. to honor test‑ban commitments, while the Kremlin warned it could respond in kind and stressed that Russia’s recent Burevestnik and Poseidon activities were system trials, not nuclear detonations.
- If explosive detonations occur, they would be the first U.S. nuclear tests since 1992 at the Nevada National Security Site, a step experts say is not technically necessary given current stockpile stewardship methods.
- Domestic resistance surfaced quickly as Nevada Rep. Dina Titus vowed legislation to halt any tests and arms‑control specialists, including the Arms Control Association, criticized the move as misguided and risky.
- The move lands as arms‑control frameworks fray, with the U.S. never having ratified the CTBT, Russia withdrawing its ratification in 2023, and New START set to expire in February 2026 with no successor in place; Trump also misstated that the U.S. has the world’s largest arsenal and appeared to conflate warhead detonations with routine missile flight tests.