Several White House officials, including Sean Spicer, stated the Trump administration will continue to put pressure on China in an effort to retaliate against Kim Jong-Un's regime following the death of Otto Warmbier. But the president seemed to dismiss those notions on Twitter Tuesday, writing that their efforts haven't worked out:
Why it matters: The Trump administration has looked to China in recent months to ramp up its aggression toward North Korea. But Trump's latest tweet suggests the WH may be switching gears now, and planning to deal with North Korea more directly.
A word of caution: Axios' Jonathan Swan writes that it's possible, even likely, that rather than abandoning his previous approach, Trump is publicly shaming Xi for his lack of success in changing North Korea's behavior and giving him one last chance to fix the situation.
Timing: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis are set to meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week.
