One way to ensure that Trump's trade war with China escalates in perpetuity is to tie it directly to his failure to make a deal with Kim Jong-un.
Unfortunately, he's doing exactly that.
According to various reports, North Korea gave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the run-around when he landed there on Friday. Korean officials reportedly strung Pompeo along with hours-long ceremonial banquets, never allowed him to meet Kim Jong-un, and finally embarrassed him on his way out.
The North Koreans took him, his staff and the six journalists traveling with the delegation to a gated guesthouse on the outskirts of the capital, just behind the mausoleum where the bodies of regime founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il lie embalmed and on occasional display.
It was the start of a confused visit of less than 30 hours, marked by a pair of lavish banquets that the secretary and his staff appeared to dread for their length and the daunting number of courses presented by unfailingly polite waiters. He only learned of his own schedule hours ahead of time, and the meeting with Kim Jong Un never happened -- despite strenuous efforts from his staff. [...]
As he was leaving, Pompeo told reporters the conversations were “productive and in good faith.” Hours later North Korean state media issued a statement that did not mention him by name but called the demands he presented “gangster-like.”
This sounds more like the North Korea we've all come to know over our lifetimes and the Trump regime gullibility which is more recent.
In any case, whatever happened during Pompeo's visit is now being used by Trump to cover the other side of his ass by conveniently linking two failures together.
I have confidence that Kim Jong Un will honor the contract we signed &, even more importantly, our handshake. We agreed to the denuclearization of North Korea. China, on the other hand, may be exerting negative pressure on a deal because of our posture on Chinese Trade-Hope Not!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2018
Trump and Kim never actually signed a "contract" and the piece of paper they did sign did not commit North Korea to anything specific. So, given that there was no "deal," it's not clear how China could "exert negative pressure" on a non-existent deal that didn't commit North Korea to anything.
But, you know, even if it were true that China is nudging North Korea in the other direction, Trump would have no one but himself to blame for that.
Across the entire world, Trump is operating in explicitly bad faith while expecting good faith from everyone else. And he's accusing them of acting in bad faith even when they aren't and he is. You can only tell the rest of the world to get fucked so many times before they respond in kind.