Trump says if sanctions won’t work, the US may have to go to “phase two”

President Trump reiterated his position towards China, and his threats against North Korea.

At a White House Press Conference on Friday, an Australian reporter asked President Trump “if the sanctions don’t work, are all options still on the table?”

“If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go phase two,” Trump said.

“And phase two may be a very rough thing. May be very, very unfortunate for the world. But hopefully the sanctions will work. We have tremendous support all around the world for what we’re doing. It really is a rogue nation. If they can make a deal it will be a great thing. If we can’t, something will have to happen. So we’ll see. As far as General Mattis is concerned, I mean he has that view and a lot of people have that view. China’s tough. They’re getting stronger.”

“They’re getting stronger to a large extent with a lot of the money they’ve made from having poor leadership in the United States, because the United States leadership has allowed them to get away with murder. With that being said, I think we can have a truly great, even trading relationship with China. Hopefully that’s going to work out. And hopefully the relationship I have with President Xi will make that happen. Only time will tell. Thank you.”

Since President Trump didn’t specify exactly what he means by “phase two”, and what he means by this phase being “very, very unfortunate for the world”, one is left to speculate on what that phase could entail, including the use of a military strike, which apparently isn’t precluded.