United States President Donald Trump is considering taking a harder line on trade with China, several senior administration officials told Reuters.
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While the officials said the consideration is sparked by a growing frustration with China's supposed “inaction” regarding the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, they also indicated that there may be broader political-economic intentions behind the deliberations.
"What's guiding this is he ran to protect American industry and American workers," one of the U.S. officials said, referring to Trump's 2016 election promise to take a hard line on trade with China.
Any actions taken against China economically are still only being considered and debated, and the officials told Reuters that there was not yet a consensus within the administration on U.S.-China policy.
No decision is expected this week, and it is unclear precisely what types of actions are being considered.
The Trump administration has pushed China to join them in sanctioning and pressuring the DPRK in efforts to force them to denuclearize.
China is a long-time ally and key trade partner of the DPRK which has been slammed with sanctions from the United States and the United Nation's Security Council for its continued development of a nuclear program that its leadership views as necessary to preserve sovereignty and self-defensive ability in the face of western aggression.
“If he's not going to get what he needs on (the DPRK), he needs to move ahead on his broader agenda on trade and on North Korea,” an official told Reuters.
The consideration comes on the heels of Trump's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom he allegedly discussed the cooperation of the United States, India, and Japan in the Indian Ocean. International military excercises of that sort would be provocative to China as India's regional rival.
China has increasingly become a global economic powerhouse, building trade connections and infrastructure under President Xi Jinping's “Belt and Road” initiative, as well as becoming a world leader in environmental technology.