NUCLEAR WEAPONSWill Trump’s Nuclear Testing Order Prompt a Global Race?
President Donald Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing “because of other countries testing programs.” But no other country has tested nuclear weapons in more than 30 years, and nuclear policy experts worry that Trump’s push may disrupt what has been a more than three-decades-long moratorium of live testing of nuclear explosives.
President Donald Trump this week posted on social media that he had ordered the immediate resumption of nuclear weapons testing “because of other countries testing programs.” The announcement stirred concern among nuclear policy experts because of its potential disruption of what has been a more than three decades long moratorium of live testing of nuclear explosives. Trump’s move appears to be a response to Russia’s recently publicized test of a nuclear delivery system, but raises questions of whether the president wants to risk spurring a new global race to test nuclear warheads.
What is behind Trump’s sudden announcement on nuclear testing?
Trump posted his message on social media just minutes before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit expected to deal with a range of economic and security issues. Although he was about to enter a room with Xi, Trump may have had Russian President Vladimir Putin on his mind when he made the statement. Russia announced on Sunday—in a setting meant for international audiences—that its new nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile, Burevestnik/Skyfall, had traveled and maneuvered 7,800 miles. That system is designed to find the weaknesses in air defenses and what Trump hopes to achieve with his planned Golden Dome project, a vast missile defense effort with ground and space-based interceptors.
Trump may have been looking for a countering signal to Putin, not China, yet China would stand to gain the most from any global restart of nuclear testing as it expands and modernizes its own nuclear program. The United States has more data about its nuclear weapons than any other state; new tests around the world could accelerate other states’ nuclear weapons programs.
The president would also be defying an international norm against testing that forms one part of the global non-proliferation regime. More than 187 countries have signed on to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; the United States, Russia, and China are adhering to it. An international standard against testing is in place and the United States’ actions would likely have unintended consequences abroad.
