That sets up a confrontation at the Security Council pitting the United States, Britain and France against the other two permanent members. Mr. Trump appears to be using the resolution to highlight the contrast between the nations that support maximum sanctions pressure against the North and those seeking the status quo.

The Trump administration on Wednesday repeated a drastic — if highly unlikely — warning if United Nations action is blocked. The Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from North Dakota that an executive order had been prepared that would authorize a halt in trade with “anybody that does trade with North Korea.” China is among dozens of nations that trade with the North.

Even some Democrats have joined the Trump administration in calling for an oil cutoff, including Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts. In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s former defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, said he supported “a strategy of coercive diplomacy” that would steadily increase pressure on the North if it continued to test its missiles and nuclear weapons, and would reduce sanctions if it complied with United Nations resolutions.

Mr. Carter, now the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, said he considered it “in China’s interest” to “strangle North Korea,” but said he was not optimistic, “because China has consistently disappointed.”

The fate of the Trump administration’s resolution may hinge in part on North Korean actions in the next few days. South Korea’s intelligence and defense agencies have said they see preparations for another missile test from the North’s main missile launch site on the northeast coast. There is some speculation that the test could be aimed at the waters off Guam, which Mr. Kim has said will be among his next targets.

That has created a behind-the-scenes debate inside the Trump administration over how to respond — whether to consider a pre-emptive strike on the missile, try to intercept it with antiballistic missile batteries, or simply let the test proceed, especially if the missile appears headed for splashdown in international waters.

Administration officials briefed members of Congress on the North Korean standoff on Wednesday, but they were vague about their plans, according to people who attended.