Trump Can’t Stop Trade With North Korea. But He Does Have Options.
China has also historically been a major buyer of North Korean coal for its steel mills, although this year it has cut back on coal imports ahead of tighter United Nations sanctions
and after the United States said the trade was contributing funds to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
SHANGHAI — President Trump said on Sunday that the United States could consider stopping all trade with countries doing business in North Korea, in a move
that could spell economic catastrophe for the pugnacious country.
This year, despite new sanctions, stern warnings to China from Mr. Trump
and a slew of weapons tests by the North, Chinese exports to Pyongyang grew more than 22 percent through July compared with a year earlier, in part because of rising sales of electrical equipment and machinery, according to data from IHS Markit, Global Trade Atlas, a research company.
China is also the largest trading partner of the United States, in a relationship worth nearly $650 billion a year in goods
and services covering a range of items, like auto parts, apple juice and Apple’s widely anticipated new iPhone.