In a bold move that could reshape global military dynamics, former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly directed the Pentagon to initiate the nation’s first nuclear tests since 1992. This decision came just ahead of a crucial meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighting the tense backdrop of the international arms race.

Trump justified the directive by emphasizing the need for the United States to maintain its lead in nuclear capabilities over rivals Russia and China. He instructed the Department of Defense to proceed with these tests “immediately,” underscoring the urgency he felt in addressing the growing competition.

“The United States possesses more nuclear weapons than any other country,” Trump stated, referencing enhancements made during his administration. “This was achieved through a complete overhaul and modernization of existing arsenals during my first term. Despite the immense destructive power, I was reluctantly compelled to pursue this course of action.”

He elaborated on the global nuclear hierarchy, noting, “Russia ranks second, and while China is currently a distant third, it is projected to match our capabilities within five years.”

He added about the arms race: ‘Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.’

Trump the revealed his mission to increase testing nukes in order to compete with the other world powers. 

‘Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,’ he declared. ‘That process will begin immediately.’

Trump shook hands with Xi in Busan, South Korea prior to a showdown that could reshape relations toward a tentative truce after a string of bellicose rhetoric and actions between the two powers.

Donald Trump announced that the US Department of War will ramp up nuclear testing immediately to combat Russia and China from getting even in the arms race

Workers prepare the B61-13, a nuclear ‘gravity bomb’ 24 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945

When asked about his Truth Social post, Trump refused to comment and said ‘thank you’ to the press, indicating that the time for questions had ended.  

Xi acknowledged the ‘frictions’ between the two countries, as Trump joked about his counterpart being a ‘tough negotiator.’

The handshake marked the first meeting between the two biggest world leaders after Trump kicked off a trade war with China just days after reentering office.

The meeting is high-stakes for both nations and the two appeared to be on their best behavior.

‘Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye-to-eye with each other and it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions every now and then,’ Xi said as they sat down for negotiations at an air base in Busan, South Korea.

The president blasted off a social media post just moments before his consequential meeting with Xi announcing his direction for the Department of War to begin nuclear weapon testing ‘immediately’ that meets the level of testing by Russia and China.

‘I think he’s a very tough negotiator. That’s not good,’ Trump joked to reporters ahead of their meeting.

He added: ‘We’ll have a great understanding. We have a good relationship.’

President Donald Trump (pictured left) and China’s President Xi Jinping pose for photos as they arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan

Trump’s cabinet met with several of their Chinese counterparts

Negotiators on both sides see a ratcheting down of tensions due to measured concessions: While Xi is expected to ease hardline restrictions on China’s rare-earth material, Trump is set to pull back his monstrous tariffs, according to reports.

While Trump is betting on his personal charisma, Xi also comes into the meeting carrying a powerful negotiating hand given that China produces 80 to 90 percent of the world’s rare earths, essential for America’s high-tech industry.

Just last month, Trump took to Truth Social to publicly chastise the Chinese leader, linking him to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un while criticizing Beijing for conspiring ‘against the United States of America.’ 

After his Moscow outreach with Putin fell apart and new US oil–trade sanctions tightened the screws on Russia, Trump has turned his attention to Beijing, seeking to leverage the failed Russian dialogue into pressure on Xi, who has quietly backed Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Pentagon for comment. 

The move comes after Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested its ‘unstoppable’ nuclear-powered cruise missile. Moscow says the weapon, called the ‘Flying Chernobyl,’ can pierce any defense shield, and has ‘unlimited range’.

Asked on Air Force One about the test of the missile, dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, Trump said the United States did not need its nukes to fly so far as it had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.

‘They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, [our missile] doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,’ Trump told reporters, according to an audio file posted by the White House.

The president made the announcement on Truth Social just hours before his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping

The US has not conducted a real-world test of a nuclear bomb since 1992 

‘I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying, either, by the way: You ought to get the war ended, the war that should have taken one week is now in… its fourth year, that’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles.’

In response to Trump on Monday, the Kremlin defiantly said that Russia would be guided by its own national interests.

‘Despite all our openness to establishing a dialogue with the United States, Russia, first of all, and the president of Russia, is guided by our own national interests,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

‘That’s how it was, that’s how it is, and that’s how it’s going to be.’

The Kremlin said Russia was ensuring its own security by developing new weapons.

‘There is nothing here that can and should strain relations between Moscow and Washington,’ Peskov said. 

Trump has repeatedly spoken of moving US submarines to Russia’s coast after remarks by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.

It is rare for either side to discuss in public the location of nuclear-armed submarines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi in 2024

Speaking about the Russian missile test, Trump said: ‘We test missiles all the time.’

‘They’re not playing games with us and we’re not playing games with them either,’ he added.

On Sunday, the Russian president announced the ‘successful’ secret test flight on October 21 of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.

Dressed in military uniform, Putin spoke of the weapon during a late-night visit to a war command post, where he was briefed on the Ukrainian frontline by Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, 70.

As he made his remarks, Russian missiles pounded residential blocks in Kyiv, in a barbaric attack, killing at least three sleeping civilians and injuring nearly 30 others, including seven children.

Defying Trump’s latest calls for peace, Putin also revealed details of nuclear war drills carried out by his forces over the past week.

‘The modernity of our….nuclear deterrent forces, is at the highest level,’ he boasted.

‘Well, it would probably be no exaggeration to say that it is at a higher level than all nuclear states.’

Chinese President Xi Jinping disembarks from a government plane upon arrival at Gimhae

He revealed new tests on a missile intended to fly for days at a time and able to counter all current Western defenSes.

The US has not conducted a real-world test of a nuclear bomb since 1992. 

After decades of declining nuclear stockpiles, the nuclear agency sees a real possibility that more countries around the world – including India, Pakistan, and North Korea – are preparing to enter a nuclear arms race.

As of 2023, the US Department of Energy reports that America has 3,748 nuclear warheads.

However, the nonpartisan Arms Control Association estimated that the number was significantly higher, putting the total at 5,225 as of January 2025.

Currently, progress on a treaty banning the testing of nuclear weapons has stalled, and there is already evidence that world powers are moving ahead with nuclear rearmament.

Most of America’s plutonium has been sitting around for decades, leading to fears that the radioactive decay will damage the unused weapons. 

Plutonium has five ‘common’ isotopes which have different rates of decay, ranging from just 87 years to over 24,000 years, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.