Trump's ultimatum to China taking effect, Conway says

Since the November election, President Donald Trump has made it clear what his stance is on North Korea: If Kim Jong Un continues to pursue a nuclear program, the country will face military action from the U.S.

In several bombastic statements, Trump threatened the Hermit Kingdom with “fire and fury” and has pressured China, North’s Korea’s largest trading partner, to sever ties with the increasingly aggressive nation.

That ultimatum -- work with either the United States or North Korea -- is beginning to take effect, Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Thursday.

“You can’t do both,” she told FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” “These economic sanctions are severe, and military options are still on the table. But really deepening the economic sanctions. I think China blinked today.”

On Monday, Chinese banks received news to halt financial services and loans to new and existing North Korean customers, a direct result of U.N. sanctions passed earlier this month.

And on Thursday, just a few days after Trump’s incendiary speech at the U.N. in which he threatened to “destroy” North Korea and belittled its leader as “rocket man,” he ordered new sanctions that further restricted Pyongyang’s nuclear program by blacklisting companies and entities still doing business with the North.

“It’s been a consequential week for our president,” Conway said. “[He’s] really taking aim at our nation’s sovereignty, saying ‘America first’ will always be his guiding principle.”