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3 incidents

Foreign Policy & War
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Trump Administration Explored Resuming Nuclear Testing — First Time Since 1992

The Washington Post reported in May 2020 that senior Trump administration officials — including representatives from the Defense and State Departments — discussed at a meeting whether to conduct a nuclear test explosion. The discussions were presented as leverage in arms control negotiations with Russia and China. No test took place, but the public discussion of resuming testing — after a 28-year U.S. moratorium — was treated by arms control experts as a significant destabilization of the global non-proliferation architecture. The Trump administration had already withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and signaled disinterest in extending New START.

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3
nuclearweaponsarms-controlfirst-termforeign-policy
Updated October 5, 2019 Foreign Policy & War
Major Abuse of Power

North Korea 'Diplomacy': No Inspectors, Continued Weapons Development, Strategic Concessions

Trump's three meetings with Kim Jong-un (Singapore June 2018, Hanoi February 2019, DMZ June 2019) produced vague joint statements but no binding agreements. North Korea did not submit to inspections, did not provide a declaration of nuclear assets, and did not halt weapons development. Trump unilaterally suspended U.S.-South Korea military exercises after the Singapore summit, calling them 'very expensive war games' and using language Kim had used — a significant concession military commanders opposed. North Korea tested missiles throughout 2019. Talks broke down at Hanoi when the U.S. declined to trade all sanctions for only partial denuclearization.

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3
North-KoreadiplomacyKim-Jong-unnuclearforeign-policy
Updated January 3, 2020 Foreign Policy & War
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

JCPOA Withdrawal: Abandoning the Iran Nuclear Deal Over Allied Objections

The JCPOA had halted Iran's path to nuclear weapons by removing sanctions in exchange for verifiable limits on enrichment. The IAEA had certified Iranian compliance in each of its inspections. Trump characterized the deal as 'the worst deal ever made' and the withdrawal as correcting an Obama-era mistake. European allies, who had spent years negotiating the agreement, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Trump to stay in. Following the withdrawal, Iran accelerated its nuclear program, enriched uranium to higher levels than were permitted before the JCPOA, and the U.S. assassination of General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 brought the two countries to the brink of direct military conflict.

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4
IranJCPOAnuclearforeign-policyfirst-term