Urging the United States to Lead the World Back From the Brink of Nuclear War and Halt and Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race
Adopted at the 93rd Annual Meeting in 2025
WHEREAS, the Russian Federation's nuclear threats in its war on Ukraine have made clear that the dangers of nuclear war are real and present; tensions around the world, including between the United States and China over Taiwan and the South China Sea, and the chronic security crises on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East, constitute other potential nuclear flashpoints; and the recent armed clashes between India and Pakistan have demonstrated that the near-term risks of nuclear war are multifaceted and global; and
WHEREAS, in August 2024, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared: "Humanity is on a knife's edge. The risk of a nuclear weapon being used has reached heights not seen since the Cold War. States are engaged in the qualitative arms race. Technologies like artificial intelligence are multiplying the danger. Nuclear blackmail has reemerged, with some recklessly threatening nuclear catastrophe... [W]e need disarmament now... We need all countries to step up. But nuclear-weapon states must lead the way;" and
WHEREAS, Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in 1970, obligates the five original nuclear-armed states, the United States, Russia, UK, France and China, to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament…; and
WHEREAS, at the April-May 2025 meeting of states parties to the NPT, the U.S. representative declared: "The United States remains a strong supporter of the NPT, including the disarmament-related obligations contained in Article VI... We are here to advance our collective security by strengthening the NPT, preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and, yes, pursuing their ultimate elimination. The next step is clear, we need China and Russia to work with us to that end;" and
WHEREAS, world military expenditures rose to $2718 billion in 2024: the U.S. accounted for 37% of global military spending, more than the next nine countries combined, more than three times as much as China, and nearly seven times as much as Russia; and
WHEREAS, for decades, across administrations of both parties, federal funding allocated to the military and its support systems-including homeland security, veteran affairs and the proposed 2026 upgrades to our nuclear arsenal-has often come at the expense of other critical federal agencies and social services;
WHEREAS, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that if carried out, U.S. plans to operate, sustain, and modernize its strategic and tactical nuclear delivery systems and the weapons they carry would cost a total of $946 billion over the 2025-2034 period, an average of about $95 billion a year, an amount 25 percent ($190 billion) larger than its 2023 estimate of $756 billion for the 2023-2032 period;
WHEREAS,, Mayors for Peace, led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is working for a world without nuclear weapons, safe and resilient cities, and a culture of peace, and as of May 1, 2025, has grown to 8,479 cities in 166 countries and territories, with 229 U.S. members; and
WHEREAS,, The United States Conference of Mayors has adopted resolutions submitted by U.S. members of Mayors for Peace for 19 consecutive years, with the 2024 resolution entitled, "The Imperative of Dialogue in a Time of Acute Nuclear Dangers;" and
WHEREAS, during a February 13, 2025 press conference, President Donald Trump said that once things "settle down," his administration plans to discuss denuclearization and reducing military spending with the Russian Federation and China, stating, "There's no reason for us to be building brand-new nuclear weapons. We already have so many, you could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over," and on March 6, he told reporters, "It would be great if everybody would get rid of their nuclear weapons. I know Russia and us have by far the most. China will have an equal amount within 4-5 years. It would be great if we could all denuclearize because the power of nuclear weapons is crazy."
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors calls on the President to lead a global effort to move the world back from the nuclear brink, halt and reverse a global nuclear arms race, and prevent nuclear war, by engaging in good faith negotiations with the other eight nuclear armed states, in particular the Russian Federation and China, to halt any further buildup of nuclear arsenals and to verifiably reduce and eliminate nuclear arsenals according to negotiated timetables; seeking the renunciation by all nuclear-armed states of the option of using nuclear weapons first; implementing effective checks and balances on the Commander in Chief's sole authority to order the use of U.S. nuclear weapons; ending the Cold War-era "hair-trigger alert" posture; ending plans to produce and deploy new nuclear warheads and delivery systems; and maintaining the de facto global moratorium on nuclear explosive testing; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference calls on the President to protect communities and workers affected by nuclear weapons by fully remediating the deadly legacy of environmental contamination from past and current nuclear weapons testing, development, production, storage, and maintenance activities, and by providing health monitoring, compensation, and medical care to those who have and will be harmed by nuclear weapons research, testing, and production, including through an expanded Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference calls on the President to actively plan a just economic transition for the civilian and military workforce involved in the development, testing, production, management, and dismantlement of nuclear weapons and for the communities that are economically dependent on nuclear weapons laboratories, production facilities, and military bases; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference urges Congress to pass H.Res. 317, "Urging the United States to Lead the World Back From the Brink of Nuclear War and Halt and Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race," which encompasses the above points; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference calls on the Administration and Congress to cut increases in military and nuclear weapons spending and to restore funding for programs that are critical to American cities, including the Community Development Block Grant Program and the HOME Investment Partnership Program, and to preserve and strengthen Medicaid as a matter of public safety; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference urges all its member cities to join Mayors for Peace to help the organization meet its goal of 10,000 members.