President Donald Trump on Sunday floated cutting off all US trade with any country that maintains economic ties to North Korea, a not-so-veiled threat to the country's primary trading partner, China.

"The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea," Trump wrote in a tweet.

It could be an empty threat. China remains a major US trade partner — according to the US Trade Representative, US goods and services traded with China in 2016 alone totaled an estimated $648.2 billion. Other US trade partners like India, Thailand, and the Philippines also maintain some economic ties with North Korea.



The least credible policy threat made by Trump since assuming the presidency. #Chinahttps://t.co/C3Uj9o74yM

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 3, 2017



I am no economist but cutting off trade with China seems like it might have pretty dramatic repercussions on the US economy. https://t.co/zjugPHFzBF

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) September 3, 2017



A threat to stop all trade with China is not credible & Beijing knows. Expansive secondary sanctions? More so. https://t.co/9iUeZafhvg

— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) September 3, 2017

Trump's comments came several hours after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called for an additional round of sanctions on North Korea on Sunday following the test of the country's most powerful weapon yet.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Mnuchin said North Korea's test of what it claims was a hydrogen bomb was "completely unacceptable behavior."

"We've already started with sanctions against North Korea, but I'm going to draft a sanctions package to send to the president for his strong consideration," Mnuchin said.

He added: "People need to cut off North Korea economically."

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Mnuchin also did not rule out implementing stronger regulations on Chinese companies and financial institutions that regularly interact with North Korea.

"China has a lot of trade with them, there's a lot that we can do to cut them off economically, much more than we've done already," Mnuchin said.

North Korea claimed that Kim Jong Un on Sunday inspected a hydrogen bomb that could eventually be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Following news of the test, Trump chided China for refusing to cut economic ties with Noth Korea, and reiterated his hints at using potential military force to eliminate North Korea's weapons.



North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017



..North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017



South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017

Watch a clip of Mnuchin on Fox News:

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