WASHINGTON (AP) — In a flurry of phone calls with world leaders, President Donald Trump took a tough line against…
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a flurry of phone calls with world leaders, President Donald Trump took a tough line against negotiating with North Korea as the communist country’s latest nuclear test exposed stark differences among international leaders for containing the threat. Trump’s military, diplomacy and intelligence chiefs were to brief Congress later Wednesday.
Trump stressed “now is not the time to talk to North Korea” and that “all options remain open to defend the United States and its allies, ” according to a White House description of his telephone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday.
The readout was released shortly before Trump was to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose opinion is critical for getting the U. N. to apply tighter sanctions on North Korea, including possibly restricting China’s oil sales to its unpredictable neighbor.
Trump also discussed North Korea’s purported hydrogen bomb test with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The weekend explosion was Pyongyang’s strongest-ever nuclear test and follows launches in July of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the U. S. mainland. Trump and Turnbull “confirmed that their two countries will intensify joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea.”
While Trump consulted his international counterparts, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats planned to hold closed-door briefings for House and Senate members on the North Korean threat.
