U.S. adds sanctions on nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration hit more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses with sanctions Friday, escalating pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program.

The administration billed it as the largest installment of North Korean economic restrictions to date. President Trump went further, declaring in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that it was “the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before.”

While the number of companies from North Korea and other nations was high, the economic impact is unclear. It was certain to be less than previous U.S. measures that targeted large banks and business networks in China and Russia that deal with the North.

However, it significantly tightens the noose on North Korean trading. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that the U.S. has now imposed more than 450 sanctions against the North, about half of them in the last year — including “virtually all their ships that they’re using at this moment in time.”

The Treasury Department said it was barring U.S. business transactions with nine international shipping companies from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Panama, and nine of their vessels. It also blacklisted 16 North shipping companies and 19 of their North Korean-flagged vessels.