michael pillsbury has been advising the trump administration on korea. he is a senior fellow at the hudson institute, where he directs the center for chinesera gy. and, michael green was the n senior director for asiae national security council staff during the george w. bush. administrati he is now senior vice president atr asia at the center for strategic and intenal studies, and a professor at georgetown university. and gentlemen, we thank you both for being here. michael pillsbury, to you f do we know how this trip came about? >> i would say the short answer is no. senior intelligence official in south koretold the press a couple of days ago, "this is noh kim. is his sister." very embarrassing intelligence failure from south korea. a number of american china experts have tweeted out, high officials on the train but no one else. so unless it's extremely sensitive american intelligence i would say th answer is no. however, we know a lot more about this now. we have the xi phone call with isemp, the long exc statement, and communications with the chinese

michael pillsbury here, professor sung-yoon lee.nk you very much. >> woodrufs week, the chief of the u.s. forest service stepped down, foowing a newshour investigation into allegations of a culture of sexual misconduct and retaliation within that agency, as well as questionsf'bout the chies own behavior. william more on what this means for the service going forward. william, welcome. so tony took is his name, the chief of the forest service. he's outn what more you tell us about what's behind this? >> last fall tony tk was nominated to head the u.s. forest service. at that timeio a s official of the forest service said you need to be aere of s of teeny took's behavior. he had had a consensual extra marital affair with a subordinate when he worked in florida. cra special position for the woman, promoted her through the ranks. according to the letter, when the affa was discovered by the young woman's supervisor, took was told sp communicating with her but apparently he did not. a rect quote, mr. took not only contacted the female empl

michael pillsbury, to you first, should president trump have agreed to this meeting?yes, absolutely. i think the issue,hough,s whether there should be conditions attached that the north koreans have to fulfill before the trip happens. as you know, the president was very clear that the date and the place are yet to be negotiated. so his agreement to the meeting is sject to quite few other edecisions being made. but, overall,his is really a chance for him to become a great president in foreign policy. i wouldn't rule out the nobel peace prize and all kinds of breaktoughs, but we're in the very first phase of this today. >> woodruff: sung-yoon leld shhe president have done this? >> well, how to ascertain, how to understand kim jong un's sund dramatic outreach as of new years day, most likely he didn't wake up on new year's' days and have an epiphy and be a nice guy. more than likely, kim jong un feels the pinch from meaningful sanctions enforcement built up over the past year, but more likely than that, this is all premed dated, preplann certainly not unprecedented. kim

and mike wil michael pillsbury.nd a trade war, has serious collateral damage, it remains to be seen what china does. is this an over reacted? >> i think it is know under reacted. another 50 billion dollars. if we did something across board, they could not possibly retaliate. so my feeling, a good step, i'm glad he is taking it, we should put a tariff on all chinese imports. charles: michael. president trump said there more to come. >> i believe he is right, that is why chinese are kind of proud of themselves, they anticipated this. two days ago, chinese prime minister said they don't do any of this. no force technology transfer no theft, they were ready. i think we'll see a majored response from china, i think that stock market in china really panicked think there would be a huge chinese response, no they really get too much from us across the board in many sectors not just economics and trade. charles: a 15 day period before they figure out the items, then 30 day, all of the industries go to white house tell them w

joining me right now, hudson institute senior fellly michael pillsbury along with our very own chars payne. michael, start with you. people say the trump administration is anti-free trade. seems like a drastic, drastic crittism especially if you allow china to continue on the path it is you will wake up a decade from now, we'll be the next france. they will be the hegemonic power in the world taking the place of the usa with that in mind what needs to happen so things shake out in a more fairway? into well the first thing. >> well the first thing china has to take president trump seriously. that is probably why the market some could calming down. president trump didn't declare a trade war at all, he had very limited measures. measures that were talked about for years. only thing is they're doing it instead of talking about it. i don't see harsh pushback from the chinese. their steel and aluminum tariffs were very small, three billion dollars to match $3 billion. they haven't replied to this yet. they have offered to negotiate, conciliatory things almost apology, trish, we're willing t

michael pillsbury hudson institute.ining us this morning. >> enthusiastic reaction from moo. i have known john bolton since 1981. he is quite the insider. many ways speaking as a friend of his. there is two john boltons the iconic john bolton writes op-ed pieces that gone on fox. not outrageous but unusual things. and john bolton i have seen the insider the justice department. the usaid. he has worked all over our government. so when he said to martha maccallum that he will be the implementer. he will check and make sure it's implemented. that's what the president is getting and very much needs it i'm a friend of mcmasters, too. i have read both their books. he has a dereliction of duty all around the advisory system around the president and what can go wrong. bolton's book is more exciting. it's surrender is an not an option. he shows you the fights he has gotten into with senators and foreign governments. in many ways h.r. mcmaster is smooth. john bolton is more of a fighter. i think that's what president trump wants.