Trump complains about trade between China and North Korea

Trump criticized China's increased trade with North Korea and questioned Beijing's efforts to cooperate with Washington.

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters.

"Trade between China and North Korea increased nearly 40% in the first quarter. Our cooperation with China has not worked out, but we must try!", US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter today.

Even before Pyongyang announced a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Trump had shown that he was no longer patient with China's modest steps in pressuring North Korea and was considering taking trade actions, according to Reuters.

Trump tweeted before departing for Warsaw, Poland, and then Germany for the G20 summit, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China is North Korea’s biggest ally and trading partner. Figures released by Beijing in April showed that China’s trade with North Korea increased 37.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2016. China’s exports to North Korea increased 54.5 percent and imports increased 18.4 percent, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

China stopped importing coal from North Korea on February 26. China's General Administration of Customs said on June 23 that imports from North Korea in May fell more than 30% compared to a year ago.

The world's second-largest economy bought $123.8 million worth of goods from North Korea in May, down 31 percent from a year earlier.

According to VNE