White House Official 'Wouldn't Be Surprised' If Trump Brings Up With Xi Chinese Sanctions on South Korea

President Trump may address Chinese sanctions against South Korea in his meetings this week with China President Xi Jinping, according to a senior White House official. The installation of the United States's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea has angered Beijing enough for the Chinese government to institute retaliatory economic sanctions against the American ally.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it comes up," said the White House official when pressed on whether President Trump will bring up the issue of China's sanctions, which have included closing Chinese locations of a Korean department-store chain and banning Chinese tourist groups from visiting South Korea.

The THAAD system is designed to shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic missiles from the hostile North Korea regime, but Beijing views the system's deployment as an affront to its influence in the region. The White House official said that while the Trump administration is "familiar with China's objections to THAAD," the United States will continue to support it and its placement in South Korea.

"The United States will always act to defend our allies and our homeland against any threat, and particularly one of the nature of the North Korea regime," the official said. "There will be no move away from protecting our South Korean allies and the United States."

President Trump will have his first meeting with Xi during a 24-hour visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida—the same place where Trump met with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe earlier this year. The White House says it is the administration's hope to "work with" the Chinese on the growing threat from a possible North Korean weaponized nuclear program.