United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had instructed the Department of Defense to “immediately” restart testing of US nuclear weapons.

If the US resumes nuclear testing now, it would be the first time it has conducted such tests in more than 30 years.

Trump claimed that China was rapidly building its nuclear stockpile, citing that as among the reasons to justify his decision, just before he began a much-anticipated summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping that yielded a deal on tariffs and rare earth metals.

The US president’s decision also came days after he criticised Russia for testing a new nuclear-powered missile called the Burevestnik.

What did Trump say?

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “Because of other countries testing programs,

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