US President Donald Trump lashed out at China Wednesday, pointing to a surge in its trade with North Korea as evidence that US reliance on Beijing to rein in Pyongyang was misplaced.
“Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try!” Trump said in an early morning tweet.
Trump also posted that he was about to depart on a trip to Europe that will include a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping at a G20 summit in Germany.
It came a day after North Korea conducted an apparently successful test launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of striking the United States.
