China has been loosening its restrictions on trade with North Korea, hindering President Donald Trump's call for putting economic pressure on leader Kim Jong Un's regime and derailing the United States' diplomatic efforts, according to former U.S. officials and independent experts.
"The Trump administration's much vaunted maximum pressure is now at best minimal pressure," Daniel Russel, a former senior State Department official who oversaw China policy, told NBC News. "That means a huge loss of leverage."
The trade increases have been traced to March, when the White House announced the Trump-Kim summit.
China, in response, invited Kim to summits in March, May and June, and Beijing started to soften its enforcement of U.N. sanctions.
As a result, it may be impossible to restart the pressure campaign against North Korea. Further, South Korea's Prime Minister has been pushing for economic engagement with the country, NBC notes.
In May and June alone, at least 29 North Korean ships visited the coal docks at the Chinese port of Longkou, the firm Windward, which uses satellites to track maritime traffic, revealed in data obtained by NBC, when none had visited the port since January.
In addition, small trucks have been photographed carrying coal across the border bridge to the Chinese city of Dandong, NBC reports.
Data also shows gas prices have been dropping in North Korea since March, and the unofficial exchange rate for the Euro has come down, and construction activity has resumed in the country's capital, the report said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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