Problem with negotiating with China: Favorable trade agreements for helping with N. Korea

"I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!" - President Donald Trump via Twitter.

 I'm no expert, but this policy seems like an extraordinarily bad concept. Does these mean that the greater the threat that N. Korea is, the better the deal that China can expect for intervening.  In other words, if it is worth X amount of trade concessions to China to convince N. Korea to stop its nuclear program today, would it be worth even more if N. Korea advanced its nuclear capacity. N. Korea probably couldn't hit the United States with nuke now, but if they showed the ability to launch many nuclear ICBMs, that would raise the stakes.  The point is that China would gain leverage as N. Korea gets more threatening. Why wouldn't China secretly encourage (i.e. share materials, expertise) N. Korea to build up, if only to get a better deal from Trump.

China certainly has the ability to intervene, but why would they? China's economy is growing at a rate in which it will become the largest economy in the world in a few years. They have the second largest, and second most advanced military in the world. Additionally, they are the most populous country.  As best China sees the United States as peer, but they want to be the world's #1 superpower.  N. Korea is their ally and they won't appease the US unless it is really worth it to them.  

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