--- title: Donald Trump North Korea: President Faces Tests description: President Trump is facing two important foreign policy tests this week in North Korea and Syria. canonical: https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-05T15:50:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:13:47.321Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Faces Two Foreign Policy Tests og:description: In North Korea and Syria. og:url: https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Faces Two Foreign Policy Tests twitter:description: In North Korea and Syria. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Faces Two Foreign Policy Tests > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 5, 2017 3:50 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 5, 2017 3:50 PM UTC President Trump is facing two important foreign policy tests this week, with North Korea testing his resolve to act to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the U.S. and Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad launching his most significant gas attack on his own people in years. It’s a one-two punch that is revealing how the new President views America’s role in the world. On North Korea, the White House has been sending sharp warnings both to the rogue country and to China, which is its largest trading partner, that Trump is willing to act unilaterally if they don’t curb their nuclear development. “The clock has now run out and all options are on the table for us,” a senior White House official said Tuesday, previewing the Trump’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. On Syria, the White House took a different tack, issuing a harsh statement of condemnation of the Assad regime, but also Trump’s predecessor, former President Obama. Obama has called Syria his greatest foreign policy failure, and Trump cast no small amount of blame over the failed “red line” policy on the use of chemical weapons. But in pointing the finger at Obama, Trump is trying to pass off responsibility for what is now his problem to solve. And his Administration is short on ideas that are any different than Obama’s. The Obamacare repeal revival falls flat. Inside the Administration’s “extreme vetting” plans. And Susan Rice and Ivanka Trump speak out. _Here are your must reads:_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/"},"headline":"President Trump Faces Two Foreign Policy Tests","datePublished":"2017-04-05T15:50:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:13:47.321Z","description":"President Trump is facing two important foreign policy tests this week in North Korea and Syria.","url":"https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads","Foreign Policy","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—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/morning-must-reads/","name":"Morning Must Reads"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4726924/donald-trump-north-korea-syria-foreign-policy/","name":"President Trump Faces Two Foreign Policy Tests"}}]}] ```