Trump Announces Harsh New Sanctions Against North Korea

The Donald Trump government has announced sanctions against 56 ships, companies and people from North Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and several small states that provide vessels around the world with what are called 'flags of convenience' ' All those ships and entities have been involved in the violation of the United Nations sanctions against Kim Jon-un's regime. The whites of Washington have participated in the export of North Korean coal and in the importation of oil by that country.

With its traditional propensity for hyperbole, the White House has called these measures "the largest sanctions" ever imposed on North Korea. That is not the case. But they are sanctions that represent a significant escalation between the US and Pyongyang's main ally, China. They are also a sign that, with the end of the Winter Olympics, the tension between the US and North Korea has risen again.

To date, Beijing has rejected many of Washington's attempts to impose sanctions on ships that violate the North Korean energy embargo. In December, the United States tried to get the UN to sanction 18 ships. But the United Nations sanctions mechanism operates by consensus, and China blocked 10 of those 18 ships. Six of the ten that Beijing forced to leave off the list were Chinese flag. One of them was Sam Jong 2, which now the Government of Donald Trump has sanctioned.

Through a statement, the US representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, has reaffirmed the increase in the pressure being exerted by the Trump administration on the North Korean regime. "We are going to use all the tools at our disposal, including working with our allies and through the UN," Haley said, for Pyongyang to reverse the direction it has taken. "The world will not accept a nuclear North Korea," stressed the ambassador.

A few hours after Trump's grandiloquent announcement, the president has met with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the White House. In a climate of harmony between both presidents, which shows that the differences of a year ago are completely overcome, Trump thanked the prime minister for his powerful voice for peace and stability in the Pacific. "Australia is one of the closest partners in our campaign of maximum pressure to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," said the president before highlighting the good progress of trade and business between the two countries.

The relationship between the US president and Turnbull, as soon as Trump arrives at the White House has been marked by a telephone conversation about refugees that the US president has described as "unpleasant". But clearly it is history for both parties. The Australian prime minister has expressed support for US sanctions against the Pyongyang regime and has announced that his government will continue to work to put pressure on North Korea.

The two nations "friends for a hundred years and wishing they were a hundred years more," Turnbull stressed, work together to address "the greatest threat to our region: the illegal nuclear program of North Korea.

During the meeting held behind closed doors, both leaders spoke of economy, another of the areas where the friendship between the two nations is more intense. Australia, Trump explained, "is a key market" for the US. Since the free trade agreement between the two countries began operating in 2005, the Australian numbers have not stopped growing. According to Turnbull, in the 2016-2017 financial year it translated into 42,000 million dollars.

The work schedule of the Australian prime minister, whose visit concludes on Saturday, includes a round table on cyber security and a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in which they discussed how they can work together for economic growth and security.

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