--- title: Trump: U.S. Will Take on North Korea With or Without China description: President Trump said the U.S. is "totally" prepared to tackle the North Korean nuclear threat with or without help from China canonical: https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-03T03:36:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T10:03:02.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says He Can Tackle North Korea With or Without China og:description: The warning comes as Trump prepares for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping og:url: https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb75e52f3e4660755/6988c0f086f68e70ba6e4169/gettyimages-628833102.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Elect Trump Continues His "Thank You Tour" In Grand Rapids, Michigan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says He Can Tackle North Korea With or Without China twitter:description: The warning comes as Trump prepares for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb75e52f3e4660755/6988c0f086f68e70ba6e4169/gettyimages-628833102.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says He's Ready to Take on North Korea With or Without China by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:03 AM UTCPublished: Apr 3, 2017 3:36 AM UTC  File photo of now-President Donald Trump taken in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Dec. 9, 2016. File photo of now-President Donald Trump taken in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Dec. 9, 2016.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:03 AM UTCPublished: Apr 3, 2017 3:36 AM UTC President Trump said the U.S. is [prepared to tackle](https://www.ft.com/content/4d9f65d6-17bd-11e7-9c35-0dd2cb31823a) the threat of a [nuclear-armed](http://time.com/4692045/north-korea-nuclear-weapons-history/) North Korea with or without help from China, suggesting that trade could be used as leverage to coax Beijing into cooperation. In an [interview](https://www.ft.com/content/4d9f65d6-17bd-11e7-9c35-0dd2cb31823a) with the U.K.’s _Financial Times_ published on Sunday, Trump said he plans to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their[ first meeting](http://time.com/4720210/trump-xi-jinping-difficult-meeting/) at the President’s Mar-a-Lago estate this week. “China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t,” Trump told the _FT_, warning that, “If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone.” When pressed on how the U.S. would get Beijing on board with attempts to curb its erratic neighbor, Trump said that, “I think trade is the incentive. It is all about trade,” adding that the U.S. is “totally” capable of handling North Korea on its own. The President declined to share details of what form unilateral action toward Pyongyang would take, but experts told the _FT_ that the next steps could include sanctions targeting Chinese businesspeople with ties to North Korea or the more controversial approach of using covert cyber operations. **Read More:** [_Can North Korea Actually Hit the U.S. With a Nuclear Missile?_](http://time.com/4694840/north-korea-nuclear-missile-america/) North Korea’s rapid progress toward achieving nuclear-equipped long-range missiles has alarmed Beijing and Washington alike; security experts believe Pyongyang will be able to reach U.S. soil with an armed missile within the next [four to five years,](http://time.com/4694840/north-korea-nuclear-missile-america/) and north Asian neighbors are nervous amid increasingly frequent tests in nearby waters. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month [urged Pyongyang ](http://time.com/4694766/china-north-korea-nuclear-us-drills/)to halt its nuclear program, but warned that U.S. military activity — particularly the deployment of a controversial [missile defense system](http://time.com/4693050/thaad-missile-defense-south-korea/) in the South Korean peninsula — was provoking the North. \[[_FT_](https://www.ft.com/content/4d9f65d6-17bd-11e7-9c35-0dd2cb31823a)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/"},"headline":"Trump Says He's Ready to Take on North Korea With or Without China","datePublished":"2017-04-03T03:36:19.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T10:03:02.000Z","description":"Security will be high on the agenda as Trump meets this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping","url":"https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","North Korea","China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb75e52f3e4660755/6988c0f086f68e70ba6e4169/gettyimages-628833102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb75e52f3e4660755/6988c0f086f68e70ba6e4169/gettyimages-628833102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Elect Trump Continues His \"Thank You Tour\" In Grand Rapids, Michigan","caption":"President Elect Trump Continues His \"Thank You Tour\" In Grand Rapids, Michigan","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/","name":"Trump Says He's Ready to Take on North Korea With or Without China"}}]}] ```