On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued a statement via his Twitter account that acknowledged what many predicted would happen. The president, he tweeted,
feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government. At the same time, we also know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful! Nonetheless, the President believes that his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games. Besides, the President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before. As for the U.S.-China trade disputes, and other differences, they will be resolved in time by President Trump and China’s great President Xi Jinping. Their relationship and bond remain very strong.
The outcome the president complains about—that China is circumventing the sanctions—was easily foreseeable. “China and Russia will almost certainly use the U.S.-North Korean rapprochement as an excuse to circumvent sanctions on Pyongyang even more flagrantly than they already do,” we wrote in mid-June after the Trump-Kim summit.
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