A senior administration official warned Tuesday that the “clock has run out” for North Korea and suggested the administration could resort war to solve the problem.
“The clock has now run out and all options are on the table for us,” the official said during a briefing by senior administration officials for reporters about the upcoming bilateral meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
The administration officials said the situation in North Korea, which has recently conducted a spate of missile tests, has become “urgent.” Trump himself said in an interview published Sunday that the United States would solve the North Korea problem with or without China.
Nevertheless, amid rising North Korean aggression toward the U.S., China must become part of a solution that sees North Korea abandon its nuclear activity, the administration officials said. Trump is expected to confront Xi about China’s role in containing the North Koreans.
“We feel that the clock is very, very quickly running out,” one administration official said of North Korea. “We would have loved to see North Korea join the community of nations. They’ve been given that opportunity over the course of different dialogues and offers over the course of four administrations.”
Trump and Xi will tackle tough issues like trade and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions this week during their bilateral summit at Mar-a-Lago, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
But that doesn’t mean the two leaders will agree on how to handle their disagreements by the end of their roughly 24 hours together.
“I don’t anticipate there’ll be a resolution on those issues,” one administration official said.
Acknowledging that economic relations between the U.S. and China have become “increasingly difficult,” one administration official said trade issues would figure heavily into Trump’s discussions with Xi.
“We want the playing field to be level so that bilateral trade and investment can be mutually beneficial,” an official said.
The White House has signaled that talks between Trump and Xi are meant to “put a framework” on future interactions between the leaders.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly slammed China’s trade practices and has accused the Chinese of cheating Americans out of jobs. Although Trump previously vowed to label China a currency manipulator, the senior administration officials declined to specify whether Trump would slap that designation on China when its leader visited his Florida home.
