In a series of Friday afternoon tweets, Donald Trump has announced that he’s cancelling an upcoming meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials and suspending negotiations for the immediate future.
Trump says he is halting the process because there has been insufficient progress toward denuclearization. He then laid the blame for this problem on China, saying that “because of our much tougher Trading stance,” China is not helping with the process of denuclearization. Trump hinted that China is violating sanctions in trading with North Korea, and stated that Pompeo would be going back to North Korea but “most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved.”
Donald Trump came back from North Korea telling Americans that the nation could “sleep well” because ‘'There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” But the actual progress from the micro-summit in Singapore seems to have been minimal—or less than minimal. Since that day, North Korea has improved facilities used in making weapons-grade nuclear material and expanded a facility for manufacturing missiles. Earlier reports had indicated that North Korea was dismantling some buildings at a facility used for satellite launches and for some long-range rocket tests, but recent images had shown that even that work has stopped.
All of which should have been expected, as Trump’s supposed deal with North Korea had no details. Within weeks of his return, it became clear there was nothing to the agreement but an agreement to begin to negotiate, and even that was vague. North Korea got an end to U.S. military training exercises in South Korea—one of their biggest demands—along with a boost in international regard. The United States got what turned out to be the very definition of empty promises.
Now any deal with North Korea requires that team Trump not only successfully negotiate a military agreement that has eluded past administrations, but first create a trading framework with China that allows Trump to declare victory in his trade war. It’s a combination that suggests that America won’t be “sleeping well” any time soon.
And it raises unpleasant possibilities for those who have been thinking that, in the post-Manafort, post-Cohen week, Trump might be looking for the ultimate distraction. Also, who has any idea why Donald Trump feels compelled to capitalize “Trading”? Maybe he thinks it’s a city.