The facts behind Trump's nuclear test comments

President Trump’s comments Thursday suggesting the United States will restart its testing of nuclear weapons upends decades of American policy in regards to the bomb, but come as Washington's rivals have been expanding and testing their nuclear-capable arsenals.

- By Jon GAMBRELL

A SUBSURFACE atomic test is carried out in March 1955 near Yucca Flats, Nev.

(U.S. Atomic Energy Commission)

Nuclear weapons policy, once thought to be a relic of the Cold War, increasingly has come to the fore as Russia has made repeated atomic threats to both the U.S. and Europe during its war on Ukraine. Moscow also acknowledged last week testing a nuclear-powered-and-capable cruise missile called the Burevestnik, code-named Skyfall by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and a nuclear-armed underwater drone.

China is building more ground-based nuclear missile silos. Meanwhile, North Korea just unveiled anew intercontinental ballistic missile it plans to test, part of a nuclear-capable — arsenal likely able to reach the continental U.S.

The threat is starting to bleed into popular culture as well, most recently with director Kathryn Bigelow’s new film, “A House of Dynamite.”

But what does Trump’s announcement mean and how would it affect what’s happening now with nuclear tensions? Here’s what to know.

Trump's comments came in a post on his Truth Social website just before meeting Chinese leader Jinping. In it, Trump noted other countries testing weapons and wrote: “I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”