President Donald Trump has said he will take unilateral action to restrain North Korea’s nuclear weapons program if China does not cooperate with the U.S. to address the problem, CNN reported Monday.Eli Watkins writes Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week to discuss nuclear threats from North Korea and possible measures to reduce the U.S. trade deficit in China.
The U.S. thinks China should heighten financial pressure against North Korea given that China accounts for approximately 70 percent of North Korea’s trade, Watkins reported.
“China will either decide to help us with North Korea or they won’t…Â If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview.
Reuters reported Sunday that Trump’s national security advisers have begun to review economic and military strategies they believe can disrupt North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.
A U.S. government official told Reuters the review “de-emphasizes direct military action.”
The report said Trump and Xi could also discuss Chinese presence in the South China Sea, where nearly $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually.
