In a major diplomatic victory for the Trump administration, the U.S. has convinced the Chinese government to halt all financial transactions with North Korea. Make no mistake: this is a huge step forward in putting pressure on North Korea to halt its rush to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.  It will have a near immediate impact on North Korea's ability to pay its bills.  In a carefully choreographed strategy deployed from the shadow of the United Nations headquarters in New York, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin called the head of China's central bank very early Thursday to alert him that Mr. Trump was preparing an executive order to sanction any financial institutions doing business with North Korea. He asked for the cooperation of China, the main source of North Korea's cash. Hours later, the People's Bank of China announced it was directing all other banks in China to halt financial transactions with North Korea. Soon...(Read Full Post)