In the middle of a high-stakes diplomatic tour, President Trump threatened on social media to resume nuclear testing for the first time in 33 years.
He made the threat just minutes before he was scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping of China, who is overseeing one of the fastest buildups of a nuclear arsenal on earth.
Mr. Trump wrote that “because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Mr. Trump wrote, saying the process would begin immediately. But the words “on an equal basis” may mean he will show off the power of American missiles or undersea nuclear assets, rather than conduct an actual nuclear test.
While China is expanding its stockpile, it has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1996.
The president’s post also came days after President Vladimir V. Putin said Russia had successfully tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile, and then, separately, a nuclear torpedo that the U.S. calls Skyfall. The torpedo is designed to travel under the Pacific from Russia’s east coast to hit the American west coast. But Mr. Putin’s saber rattling, in the wake of fizzled plans for a summit, consisted of tests of the delivery vehicles; he did not detonate any nuclear weapons.
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
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