This appears to be good news:
Beijing appears to have gone well beyond U.N. sanctions on its unruly neighbor, reducing its total imports from North Korea in the first two months this year by 78.5 and 86.1 percent in value — a decline that began in late 2017, according to the latest trade data from China. Its exports to the North also dropped by 33 percent to 34 percent both months.
The figures suggest that instead of being sidelined while North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his surprising diplomatic overtures to Seoul and Washington, China's sustained game of hardball on trade with Pyongyang going back at least five months may have been the decisive factor in forcing Kim's hand.
Given this important--perhaps decisive--Chinese role in pushing Kim to negotiate, it seems odd that Trump is now threatening a trade war with China.
But if this is carrot and stick, it makes more sense.
We have limited time to stop North Korea before they can target our cities.
So it makes sense to push China to have a sense of urgency on our behalf. Looming trade sanctions may provide that incentive stick.
Conversely, a successful de-nuclearization deal would be all the reason Trump needs to reward China--as he said he could do--by backing off on trade sanctions as a carrot that really loses us nothing by verifying the status quo.
I might be connecting dots that have no relationship with each other. But it makes sense to do exactly what I am describing, doesn't it?
