On Wednesday Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin doubled down on a threat from the president to stop trade with any country that does business with North Korea.
“I’ve worked on an Executive Order that’s ready if the president wants to use it. We can stop trade with any country that does business with North Korea,” Mnuchin said on Fox News. “We’re going to be careful in using these tools, but the president is committed.”
Asked specifically about ending trade with China, Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, he responded, “nobody would be off the table.”
After North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test earlier in September, Trump tweeted that he was thinking about halting trade with countries that do business with Pyongyang. North Korea claimed that the test was of a hydrogen bomb.
The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
Mnuchin added that Monday’s severe United Nations sanctions against North Korea were a solid first step, but not the end.
“At Treasury, we will continue to work with the president on doing more,” he said.
The restrictions, which passed unanimously, limit how much crude oil Pyongyang can import and banned textile exports.
“We are done trying to prod the regime to do the right thing. We are now trying to stop it from having the ability to do the wrong thing,” U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday.
North Korea has stepped up its illicit weapons tests in recent months, triggering heated exchanges between Trump and officials there.
The country launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July. In August, it launched an intermediate range ballistic missile that flew over Japan. And in September, it conducted its sixth nuclear test.
