President Donald Trump on Sunday floated cutting off all US trade with any country that maintains economic ties to North Korea, a not-so-veiled threat to the country's primary trading partner, China.
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Trump threatens to cut off trade with China if it does not stop trade with North Korea
Steve Mnuchin called for an additional round of sanctions on North Korea on Sunday following the test of the country's most powerful weapon yet.
"The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea," Trump wrote in a tweet.
It could be an empty threat. China remains a major US trade partner — according to the US Trade Representative, US goods and services traded with China in 2016 alone totaled an estimated $648.2 billion. Other US trade partners like India, Thailand, and the Philippines also maintain some economic ties with North Korea.
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Trump's comments came several hours after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called for an additional round of sanctions on North Korea on Sunday following the test of the country's most powerful weapon yet.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Mnuchin said North Korea's test of what it claims was a hydrogen bomb was "completely unacceptable behavior."
"We've already started with sanctions against North Korea, but I'm going to draft a sanctions package to send to the president for his strong consideration," Mnuchin said.
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He added: "People need to cut off North Korea economically."
Mnuchin also did not rule out implementing stronger regulations on Chinese companies and financial institutions that regularly interact with North Korea.
"China has a lot of trade with them, there's a lot that we can do to cut them off economically, much more than we've done already," Mnuchin said.
North Korea claimed that Kim Jong Un on Sunday inspected a hydrogen bomb that could eventually be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Following news of the test, Trump chided China for refusing to cut economic ties with Noth Korea, and reiterated his hints at using potential military force to eliminate North Korea's weapons.
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Watch a clip of Mnuchin on Fox News:
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