Last updated on March 5th, 2019 at 12:42 pm
In the latest sign that Donald Trump is a terrible deal-maker, U.S. negotiators admitted on Wednesday they will no longer demand that North Korea share the complete details of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile arsenals as discussions between the two countries continue.
According to NBC News, “U.S. negotiators are no longer demanding that North Korea agree to disclose a full accounting of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs as part of talks this week between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, according to current and former senior U.S. officials.”
The concession is an admission by Trump that he will not be able to accomplish the chief goal of his talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which is denuclearization.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
More from NBC News:
The decision to drop, for now, a significant component of a potential nuclear deal suggests a reality that U.S. intelligence assessments have stressed for months is shaping talks as they progress: North Korea does not intend to fully denuclearize, which is the goal Trump set for his talks with Kim.
Disclosure of a full, verifiable declaration of North Korea’s programs is the issue over which the last round of serious negotiations between Pyongyang and world powers, including the U.S., fell apart a decade ago.
Trump cares more about the spectacle than reaching a deal
It has been clear for months that Donald Trump was never going to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, especially since he has already given Kim Jong Un everything he wanted.
As I wrote during the first summit between the two men in Singapore last year, Trump has been playing North Korea‘s hands all along.
In just two meetings, he has given Kim Jong Un something that decades of American leaders have refused to give the North Korean regime: legitimacy.
While this second summit is likely to give Trump another photo-op to distract from his crumbling presidency here at home, Wednesday’s admission by U.S. negotiators is proof that the meetings have already failed on the substance.
In one fell swoop, this president has made North Korea an international player – and they didn’t even have to give up their nuclear arsenal.
All they had to do was write a love letter to Donald Trump.
Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
