Last week’s strike on the Syrian airfield from which Bashar al-Assad launched his latest chemical-weapons attack on his own people has somewhat overshadowed President Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping, the president of China. The summit at Mar-a-Lago last Thursday and Friday was the first chance for the leaders of the world’s two largest economies to get acquainted and, perhaps, talk frankly about the security and economic challenges facing both nations. But the Trump administration has been pretty quiet about what agreements, concessions, or potential deals it got from the Xi meeting, particularly regarding the growing nuclear threat from North Korea.
So it was notable when Trump himself tweeted cryptically on Tuesday morning that he had “explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem” and “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!”
That suggests that, at least on their first meeting, Trump and Xi didn’t decide on much of anything, either on any sort of trade deal nor how to handle North Korea, clearly the most pressing national-security matter in the region. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, asked Monday about any concessions China had agreed to on beef exports and financial products, said any provisions would be “hammered out as we go forward” and that “there’s a lot of topics that got put on the table.” Whatever that means.
A Message to North Korea Through Coal Exports?
On North Korea, the administration is being even less forthcoming with information. But Reuters reported Tuesday that a fleet of North Korean ships delivering coal to Chinese ports began heading back to the Korean port of Nampo with mostly full loads. Trading sources told the wire service that Chinese customs issued an order on April 7—the day Xi and Trump met for official talks—that North Korean coal imports should be returned. China had already declared in February, following missile launches, that it would be suspending North Korean imports.
American coal exports to China, meanwhile, are up. Could this development be the fruit of Trump and Xi’s first meeting? Administration sources won’t comment. Whether the shift is part of a U.S.-Chinese agreement or not, Pyongyang will likely see it as a message anyway.
Calling Out Russia on Assad
The White House and the Trump administration are getting more outwardly tough on Russia for its propping up of the Assad regime.
In a Tuesday briefing with reporters and in a document of declassified information distributed to the press, senior White House officials say the United States has concluded Assad perpetrated the April 4 chemical attack on civilians in the Idlib province. Officials have also concluded that sarin gas, a potent nerve agent, was used.
But the Russian government, which is allied with Assad, has been publicly and privately offering alternative theories on the attack that killed dozens of people, including children. White House officials say the information from intelligence sources does not support any of what it called “disinformation” from the Russians.
“Across the board, starting in 2013 and then since, we’ve seen both the Russians and the Syrians have a very clear campaign to try to obfuscate the nature of attacks, the attackers, and what has happened at any particular incident,” said a White House official. “They throw out a bunch of potential agents, a bunch of potential responsible or accountable parties, and also their own information is inconsistent with their own narrative.”
As Eli Lake at Bloomberg View noted, the attempts by the Trump administration to reset relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia have cooled considerably over the past week’s incidents in Syria.
Immigration Enforcement at the Border
The implementation of the Trump administration’s immigration executive order continues apace with an announcement at the border from Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Speaking in Nogales, Arizona, on Tuesday, Sessions outlined the details of a Justice Department memo that offers guidance to U.S. Attorneys on prioritizing immigration offenses.
According to Sessions, federal prosecutors will be required to consider a number of offenses for felony prosecution, including the “transportation or harboring” of illegal immigrants, repeat unlawful entry, document fraud and “aggravated identity theft” by illegal immigrants, and assault on federal law enforcement officers. Each U.S. Attorney’s office will also be required to designate an assistant U.S. attorney to focus on coordinating enforcement of the border.
Sessions also announced the hiring of 150 new immigration judges (including 25 new judges already in place at detention centers) over the next two years. “We can no longer afford to wait 18 to 24 months to get these new judges on the bench,” Sessions said. “So today, I have implemented a new, streamlined hiring plan. It requires just as much vetting as before, but reduces the timeline, reflecting the dire need to reduce the backlogs in our immigration courts.”
Song of the Day
“High Ball Stepper,” Jack White.
