President Trump told reporters on Friday that he would “find out very soon” when asked to clarify whether he plans to resume underground nuclear detonation testing following his announcement this week that he is directing the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing.
“You’ll find out very soon. But we’re going to do some testing, yes,” Trump said on Air Force One. “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it too. I’m not going to say that here.”
On Wednesday, Trump directed the Pentagon to immediately begin testing US nuclear weapons on par with China and Russia.
“The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post. “During my first term in office, this was accomplished, including a complete update and renewal of existing weapons. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do this, but had no choice! Russia is in second place, and China is in third place, but within 5 years it will also be done.”
The announcement came less than an hour before his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on trade.
Trump initially ignored a reporter’s question on the announcement during his meeting with Xi, but then when asked by reporters whether it had anything to do with Xi, said the news “had to do with others”.
The President said, “It looks like they’re all doing nuclear tests. We have more nuclear weapons than anyone.”
He added, “We don’t test, and we stopped it years ago, but other people are testing, I think it’s fair that we do the same.”
North Korea is the only country that has conducted nuclear tests since the 1990s. Russia is testing nuclear-capable weapons, which does not involve installing an actual bomb. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been testing nuclear-capable missiles as recently as this week.
