President Donald Trump said he has instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resume testing of America’s nuclear weapons—ending a 33-year moratorium.
The president’s announcement on Truth Social was posted less than an hour before his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, 72, in Busan, South Korea—the latest stop on Trump’s Asia tour.
China hasn’t tested a nuclear weapon since 1996, but has been rapidly increasing its stockpile, which in March stood at about 600 warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” Trump, 79, wrote. “This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
In fact, according to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has the most nuclear warheads of any country, with an estimated total of around 4,300 warheads available for use, against around 3,700 for the U.S.
Trump added: “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”
Trump’s directive also came the day after Russia said it had tested a nuclear-powered missile that caused a tsunami.
“We need to identify potential uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces,” President Vladimir Putin, 73, said in a video put out by the Kremlin.
The U.S. and Russia together account for about 87 percent of the global supply, with a total of about 8,000 warheads, according to FAS.
Earlier Wednesday, Politico reported that Hegseth, 45, is planning on speeding up the process of making weapons and selling them to foreign governments. It’s unclear if or how nuclear weapons would be included.
Neither the Defense Department nor the White House immediately returned a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
When asked by a reporter about his nuclear weapons announcement during the summit Wednesday, Trump ignored the question. “Thank you very much everybody,” he replied.
