Trump presses China to act on North Korea
WASHINGTON — President Trump, plainly frustrated by China’s inaction on North Korea, aimed his Twitter feed at Beijing on Tuesday, tell trade ing the Chinese government that the United States would exchange trade concessions for support in pressuring Pyongyang.
“I explained to the President of China that a deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Trump declared on Twitter around 8 a.m.
That was followed by a more impatient post in which he said: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.”
Trump’s message captures his quandary in dealing with the nuclear threat from North Korea: Only China, with its economic leverage over its neighbor, can realistically force a change in the behavior of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un.
But despite its own deepening frustration with Kim, China has so far been unwilling to tighten the vise on him.
President Xi Jinping of China did not offer Trump any public commitments when they met last week in Palm Beach, Fla. Even in private conversations, officials said, the Chinese leader was circumspect.
Though U.S. officials said the two leaders got along, the meeting was overshadowed by Trump’s missile strike on a Syrian airfield, which U.S. officials hoped would send a message of resolve about the president’s readiness to use military force to defend U.S. interests, in this case to deter the use of chemical weapons.
Trump followed that up by ordering a Navy carrier strike group into the waters off the Korean Peninsula — a show of force that previous presidents have used but that fanned fears in the region that the United States would consider a preemptive military strike on North Korea.
Still, Trump’s explicit linkage of North Korea and trade suggested that the president was more likely to seek a bargain with China than to proceed unilaterally.