“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” he said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” program, when asked about his surprise order on Thursday for the United States to test nuclear weapons.

“You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing… They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test,” he added.

Trump, ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Thursday, said he had instructed the department of Defense to immediately resume testing nuclear weapons on an “equal basis” with other nuclear powers.

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump said on Truth Social, ahead of the meeting with Xi in South Korea.

“Russia is second, and China is a distant third but will be even within 5 years,” Trump noted.