CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “By ordering his first trade action against Beijing, while amping up pressure on Chinese leaders to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear menace, U.S. President Donald Trump is bringing to a head two of the most intractable problems that bedevil U.S.-China relations.
There are hints that Mr. Trump’s hard-nosed strategy could be having an impact—at least in the near-term. After repeated North Korean threats to launch missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, Pyongyang suddenly backed away from that threat Tuesday [8-15-17]. And China has signed on to U.N. sanctions that will slash North Korea’s already meager foreign revenues by another $1 billion.
But Mr. Trump’s strategy comes with risks; each issue—trade and North Korea—is volatile enough to upend the relationship.
Mismanaged, one could ignite a trade war, the other to scenarios that lead to military conflict.
To avoid these dangers, the two sides would have to reconcile clashing views on Asian security, which shape their divergent approaches to North Korea, and incompatible economic systems, which drive trade frictions.
Successive U.S. administrations have delayed the reckoning that Mr. Trump now seeks, precisely because the chances of pulling off such a diplomatic outcome are so improbable.”
-Andrew Browne, “The ‘Fire and Fury’ Crisis: Trump Risks a Backfire Over China and North Korea,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 15, 2017 09:23am