U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Thursday to keep enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea until it rids itself of nuclear weapons.
"We agreed on the need to fully implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea and to increase economic pressure until North Korea abandons its reckless and dangerous path," Trump said at a joint news conference with Xi after their meeting in Beijing.
The two leaders also agreed to step up efforts to address the billowing U.S. trade deficit with China, and as part of such efforts, they oversaw the signing of about $250 billion in business deals between U.S. and Chinese companies in areas such as energy, aviation and manufacturing.
While Trump urged China to do more to force North Korea to curb its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Xi, however, stressed the importance of dialogue in checking Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
"The two sides will continue to fully and strictly implement U.N. Security Council (sanctions) resolutions and stay committed to solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation," Xi said.
China, maintaining that sanctions and pressure alone are not sufficient, has called on the parties involved to peacefully resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation.
Speaking at a business event earlier in the day, Trump said, "China can fix this problem easily and quickly," and urged Beijing to cut financial links with Pyongyang.
China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea's total trade and is a major supplier of oil to the country, leading critics to call Beijing an economic enabler of the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Trump called on Xi, who also attended the event, to "work on it very hard," saying, "Time is quickly running out and we have to act fast."
The talks came as North Korea is stepping up the development of nuclear-tipped missiles that could reach the continental United States. In the face of such a threat, the Trump administration says it is keeping all options -- including military action -- on the table in dealing with the defiant regime.
Before the talks, a senior White House official said there were still financial links between Beijing and Pyongyang that should not exist under U.N. sanctions.
"We're going to work closely with the Chinese to identify that activity and end it," the official told reporters, requesting anonymity.
Trump also urged Russia to help address the North Korea issue as part of coordinated global pressure to compel Pyongyang to engage in credible talks to denuclearize.
In the meeting with Xi at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, part of which was open to the media, Trump called for "fair" trade with China in an effort to address the yawning trade imbalance between the world's two biggest economies.
Trump told the post-meeting news conference that he and Xi discussed "concrete steps" the two countries will take in addressing what the U.S. leader called "the massive trade distortion." Such steps will focus on China's market access restrictions and technology transfer requirements which prevent American companies from fairly competing in China.
"The United States is committed to protecting the intellectual property of our companies and providing a level playing field for our workers," he said.
At the business event, in an apparent face-saving gesture to Xi, Trump said he does not blame China for the "very one-sided and unfair" trade relationship.
"Who can blame a country for taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens?" he said. "I give China great credit."
Instead, Trump pointed the finger at past U.S. administrations for allowing the trade imbalance to persist.
Just last week, Trump complained about the massive U.S. goods trade deficit with China, which totaled some $347 billion last year, by far the largest deficit with any trading partner.
Referring to the $250 billion business deals involving companies such as Boeing Co., General Electric Co. and Qualcomm Inc., Trump said, "Just by looking at the tremendous, incredible job-producing agreements just signed by those major companies, we are off to a very, very good start."
Trump is on the third leg of a five-nation Asian trip that will also take him to Vietnam and the Philippines. He traveled to Japan and South Korea before arriving in Beijing on Wednesday for a three-day state visit.
It is Trump's first trip to the region since taking office in January.
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