US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is ready to solve the North Korean “problem” without China if necessary.
“North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! USA.”
Trump launched a missile strike on Syria late Thursday while meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The move was widely interpreted as a warning to North Korea as well as retaliation for the Damascus regime's suspected sarin attack against civilians in a rebel-held town in Syria.
“I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Trump wrote in an earlier tweet.
The United States has deployed a naval strike group ─ which includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson ─ to the Korean peninsula in a show of force.
Trump has previously threatened unilateral action against Pyongyang if China, the North's sole major ally, fails to help curb its neighbor's nuclear ambitions.