NEW YORK – The Trump administration issued a stern warning Thursday to foreign entities that are involved in trade with North Korea, while outlining fresh sanctions against the isolated regime.
“Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or North Korea, but not both,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters.
Mnuchin provided limited details about the latest sanctions, which were unveiled in an executive order signed by President Trump earlier Thursday, and the impact they will have with major North Korean trading partners like China.
The senior administration official described the sanctions as “forward-looking,” noting that the U.S. will begin freezing the assets of individuals and companies that are found to be “facilitating Kim Jong Un’s destructive behavior.”
“We’ll do designations on a rolling basis,” Mnuchin said, adding that the administration hopes to see “voluntary cooperation” with the sanctions but is prepared to cut off banks who engage in business with North Korea.
According to the text of the executive order, Mnuchin has the authority to sanction anyone involved in certain industries that drive North Korea’s economy like construction, energy, IT, fishing, textiles, and transportation.
The order will also ban aircrafts and vessels that have visited North Korea recently from coming to the U.S. for the next 180 days.
Mnuchin said Thursday that Trump has had “productive” conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and plans to call on Russia “to do more” to rein in North Korea.
