Trump removes new sanctions on North Korea

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he was reversing his administration’s decision to place additional sanctions on North Korea. “It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea,” he wrote. “I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!” The announcement took the Treasury Department by surprise, and it was not clear which sanctions Trump was referencing in his tweet, although some media outlets are reporting that the president was referring to sanctions planned by his administration but not yet announced.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders explained the president’s action in a statement, saying that Trump “likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary.”