The U.S. administration's first recourse is very likely to be economic - pushing China to crack down on Chinese banks and companies said to provide North Korea access to the worldwide financial system.
Both the United States and China differ on their approach to resolve the internal strife in Syria.
"I directed this action in order to degrade the Syrian military's ability to conduct further chemical weapons attacks and to dissuade the Syrian regime from using or proliferating chemical weapons, thereby promoting the stability of the region and averting a worsening of the region's current humanitarian catastrophe". Beijing had joined Moscow in vetoing several previous Western-backed resolutions under President Barack Obama.
On North Korea, Trump didn't outline any concessions China was offering apart from the coal cutoff, which was announced two months ago. Along with its rapidly advancing nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, it has its artillery and short-range missiles trained on Seoul, the capital of US ally South Korea and a city of more than 10 million people.
The White House says in a statement on Sunday that the leaders agreed that Syrian President Bashar Assad's "use of chemical weapons against civilians, including women and children, was abhorrent and warranted a strong response from the global community".
South Korean and US forces are also involved in annual joint military drills that run until the end of April.
According to a Friday report by NBC, the US National Security Council has suggested to Trump and his advisors that nuclear weapons could be returned to South Korea, or that an assassination could be staged to take the life of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
ISIS Makes First Official Comments on Donald Trump Since He Became President
Trump is said to be looking at ways to speed up the US -led coalition campaign against the organization. He does not flinch when a mortar opens fire just around the corner.
Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the development "bodes well for cooperation between the US and China".
Questions were raised when Trump spoke with Japan's Shinzo Abe following a North Korean ballistic missile launch last week without also consulting the South. "That is the real litmus test".
"At a minimum, the Russians failed to rein in the Syrian regime activity", a senior U.S. military official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Chinese infrastructural investment could do a lot to set aside President Trump's trade criticism of China.
Now the nations appear to be on better terms paving the way for a partnership to dismantle North Korea's stash of nukes.
White House officials were tight-lipped about the president's activities Saturday and Sunday, which were known to have included time on the golf course and a long phone call, the second in a span of four days, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Threatening to rise tensions with Russian Federation, she said: "Every time Assad has crossed the line of human decency, Russian Federation has stood beside him", and: "Assad did this because he thought he could get away with it".
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