President Trump's harsh and incendiary rhetoric against North Korea last week set the world on edge with fears that Trump would take it one step further and launch a nuclear strike against Kim Jong-un's regime. In fact, Trump had already threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea since taking office, ironically, the same threat that North Korea has made to the United States and U.S. allies. One of those allies to the U.S. could be china if the president really wanted them to help rein in their neighbor. But throughout his threats, President Trump has shown that he cares very little about having a U.S.

ally in this fight.

Trump cares little about Guam

Further confirmation of this was with reports that President Trump told the government of Guam that threats of war would increase tourism for their country. Trump made this statement following the threat the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) made to target Guam with ballistic missiles in retaliation to the threats from the White House. DPRK is the more formal and official name for the North Korean government. At the same time, however, there still appears to be some effort by the administration to let China take the lead on reining in Kim Jong-un's regime as it is the consensus view that only China can control the DPRK.

Sanctions, trade pressure on China

The New York Times reported in an article titled: "Trump eyes China sanctions while seeking its help on North Korea," that he is in fact considering sanctioning China over trade issues. They point to the phone call that Chinese President Xi Jinping made to Trump on Friday, August 11, in what was reported to be an attempt to calm down the rhetoric between China's neighbor and the U.S.

Earlier that week, President Trump said he would rain down "fire and fury" on the DPRK. But the call was also timed when the administration was looking to take trade action against China. It was then reported that the president returned to Washington on Monday to sign a memo that would investigate Beijing regarding the theft of U.S. intellectual property rights, stealing trade secrets, piracy and counterfeiting.

U.S. IP investigation isn't pressure on China

It was reported that United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had officially started an investigation into China's alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property (IP) on Friday. As pointed out, many see this as a way for Trump to exert pressure on China for not doing something about their unstable neighbor. It appears, however, that the most it will do is create more tension in their relationship with the U.S.

After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, he reportedly had a call with the President of Taiwan which upset China for "breaking" with the One China policy. This was after he accused China of being currency manipulators. But it appears that through all of this, Trump is beginning to see the reality of the situation.

Before his chief strategist Steve Bannon was fired, it was reported that even he had said that North Korea had essentially won their "battle" with the U.S. It should be noted that its also been reported that Bannon had a hand in creating the memorandum Trump signed on Monday.

As reported, former President Obama warned Trump on inauguration day that North Korea would be his biggest problem as president, but his animosity toward the former president was clear with not wanting to face the fact that reining in North Korea would be difficult. It's curious how Trump thinks that an investigation into the Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property is going to force China to do more about the DPRK.
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