A Split Congress Could Impact Midterm Strategy
A split Congress could affect President Trump’s negotiating strategy vis-à-vis North Korea, but the legislative branch’s impact will mostly come at the margins of U.S. policy.
Trump’s control over the two major levers of U.S. pressure on North Korea —sanctions implementation and the military — means that he has significant discretion over negotiations with Pyongyang. By controlling the sources of U.S. pressure, Trump can adjust either and impact negotiations with little concern for what Congress thinks or wants.
Congress does have the ability to prevent either extreme outcome of war or peace, but neither of these seem likely given the current conditions on the peninsula.
