Trump Can’t Stop Trade With North Korea. But He Does Have Options.<br />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<br />and after the United States said the trade was contributing funds to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.<br />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<br />that could spell economic catastrophe for the pugnacious country.<br />This year, despite new sanctions, stern warnings to China from Mr. Trump<br />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.<br />China is also the largest trading partner of the United States, in a relationship worth nearly $650 billion a year in goods<br />and services covering a range of items, like auto parts, apple juice and Apple’s widely anticipated new iPhone.
