November 3, 2025 : US President Donald Trump doubled down on his decision to restart nuclear testing in the United States on Sunday, suggesting that despite enough weapons with the US to “blow up” dozens of countries, Russia and China’s nuke ambitions are a reason to resume tests.
In an interview with CBS’ 60 minutes, the Republican leader stated that his decision came after realising that the US cannot be the only country that does not carry out tests, despite having a massive arsenal.
Hours before his much-anticipated meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Trump took to Truth Social, as he does, to order the Department of Defence to start nuclear testing “immediately.”
‘Enough weapons to blow up the world’
Speaking to CBS, he defended his call, citing nuclear tests by China, Russia and North Korea.
“We have more nuclear weapons than any other country. And I think we should do something about denuclearization. And I did actually discuss that with both President Putin and President Xi. We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot,” he told CBS.
The US president further added that he does not want Washington to be the only country that does not test its weapons.
“You know, you do have to— and the reason I’m saying— testing is because Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea’s testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I want to be— I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” said Trump.
Trump’s announcement of Truth Social also came in the background of Russia testing its powerful “unlimited range” nuclear missile – the Burevestnik.
The Republican leader further added that while Russia and China do not openly share their tests with the world, the US is an “open society”.
“We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report— they don’t have reporters that going to be writing about it. We do,” he added.
Trump’s call to restart nuclear testing after 30 years in the US has also been met by some skepticism on Capitol Hill, where his nominee to lead STRATCOM (which is the defence department’s command for strategic deterrence and global strike capabilities) stated that both China and Russia have not been conducting explosive nuclear tests.
“I believe the quote was, ‘start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.’ Neither China or Russia has conducted a nuclear explosive test, so I’m not reading anything into it or reading anything out to it,” said Vice Admiral Richard Correll in a testimonial on Capitol Hill.
The last time the US conducted a nuclear testing was in September 1992 as part of ‘Operation Julin’.
Operation Julin was a group of seven nuclear tests and were the last to be held before negotiations began for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
CTBT is an intern-national agreement which bans all nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposed. It has been signed by a total of 187 countries, including China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel and even Russia.
This ban treaty, however, has only been ratified and enforced by 178 countries. The US remains a signatory of the treaty, but has not ratified it.
Summary :
Donald Trump justified resuming US nuclear testing, claiming it’s necessary for strength and modernization, even though America already holds enough weapons to destroy the world multiple times.