Efforts by the Trump administration, and the president personally, to work with China on the issue of North Korea’s increasingly unpredictable behavior, seems to have failed. With the recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the North Koreans, President Trump tore into the Chinese. The president hammered growing trade between the two countries, despite promises from China to help contain the rogue nation. Trump has said in the past that the North Korean problem would be fixed, either with China’s help, or without. This morning he tweeted:
Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2017
The Independent reports:
Mr Trump has been pushing China – North Korea’s largest trading partner – to try and rein in the isolated nation over its nuclear programme, having tweeted after Tuesday’s missile test that he hoped China would “put a heavy move” on the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The latest missile test by North Korea involved an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which some experts believe could have the range to reach the US state of Alaska.
The test marked a new milestone in the North Korean nuclear programme, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying the test, on the eve of the US Independence Day holiday, represented “a new escalation of the threat” to the United States and its allies, and vowed to take stronger measures.
The launch came days after the first face-to-face meeting between Mr Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ahead of a G20 summit of the world’s richest economies in Germany.
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On the campaign trail, then-candidate Trump was merciless in his criticism of China.
