The Trump administration declined Friday to label China a currency manipulator despite President Donald Trump's insistent pledge during the election campaign that he would do so as soon as he took office.
McMaster said the latest missile test, which failed, just fits into a pattern of "provocative and destabilising and threatening" behaviour on the part of the North Korean regime.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster says the United States is exploring "a range of options" to respond to North Korea.
North Korea is a state sponsor of worldwide terrorism and along with Russian Federation has provided chemical weapons to Syria, according to former CIA Director James Woolsey.
That's an attractive prospect for a president eager for the wins he promised - after a hard first few months that saw much of his agenda, including his signature travel ban and high-profile attempt at overhauling health care, blocked by Congress and the courts.
The test rocket "blew up nearly immediately" after its launch from a base in Sinpo early today, the U.S. military said. The Trump administration has settled on its North Korea strategy after a two-month review: "Maximum pressure and engagement".
But a USA foreign policy adviser traveling with Pence on Air Force Two sought to defuse some of the tension, saying the test of what was believed to be a medium-range missile had come as no surprise.
In the Trump campaign's "contract" with American voters he promised, "I will direct the secretary of the treasury to label China a currency manipulator" in the first 100 days of his presidency.
In its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the Treasury Department concluded that no major trading partner of the United States, including China, has manipulated their currencies over the past six months to keep them undervalued, Xinhua news agency reported.
Chelsea star Courtois to skip today's Man Utd clash
The latter captained the side with Wayne Rooney again absent from the squad, along with forward Anthony Martial. The severity of his injury should become clear in the coming days. "I hope only this game (he misses)".
The U.S. report said Asia's fourth-largest economy posted US$28 billion in goods surplus with the U.S. last year, with its current account surplus accounting for 7 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
The president said today that China was "working with us on the North Korean problem". Trump said on Twitter.
China banned imports of North Korean coal on February 26, cutting off its most important export.
The briefer noted that China had already turned back ships bearing coal from the North. While many in his conservative base were furious about the move, the bombing after a Syrian chemical weapons attack was widely applauded on the cable networks Trump voraciously consumes.
But McMaster, who was speaking from Kabul, Afghanistan, acknowledged the likelihood of North Korean retaliation if Washington uses military force in an attempt to stop its weapons programs.
South Korea, which hosts 28,500 USA troops and holds a presidential election on May 9, warned of punitive action if the Sunday launch led to further provocation.
"This is someone who has demonstrated his brutality by murdering his own brother, by murdering others in his family, by imprisoning large numbers of people in frightful conditions for no reason, for political reasons", McMaster said.
Factory worker Ri Gul Chol, 37, also had not heard about the missile test.
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