By Michael R. Gordon and Ian Talley 

President Trump said he wouldn't move forward with a round of large-scale sanctions against North Korea on Friday, catching senior officials in his own administration by surprise and spurring confusion about his diplomatic strategy to induce Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal and programs.

The decision was the latest in a series of high-profile declarations by Mr. Trump contravening actions and statements by agencies and even by his own appointees on issues ranging from foreign policy to election meddling, and drew criticism from national security experts and lawmakers.

As with many of Mr. Trump's policy assertions, Friday's came in a Twitter message, with no advance notice to officials across the government, including within the North Korea division at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which investigates violations and develops the sanctions.

Mr. Trump also announced on Friday that Islamic State's land holdings in Syria had been eliminated, contradicting the Pentagon.

"Once again, President Trump is making critical national security decisions on the fly, with tweets that directly conflict with the advice of his cabinet and experts," said Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Trump's decision may have been made because of fears that North Korea, which on Friday pulled out of a cooperative venture with South Korea, could begin missile tests in retaliation for U.S. sanctions, one person familiar with the matter said.

In a Twitter message, Mr. Trump wrote: "I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!"

Initially, administration officials believed that Mr. Trump was addressing the sanctions adopted Thursday against two Chinese shipping companies that U.S. officials say have been engaging in illicit trade with North Korea.

But another person familiar with the matter said later that Mr. Trump actually was referring not to the shipping company sanctions on Thursday but to a much tougher package of sanctions that has been discussed within the administration but has yet to be decided or publicly announced.

Mr. Trump "was not suggesting a reversal of what was already announced," this person said. Rather, "he was talking about not moving forward with additional large-scale sanctions," the person said.

The White House didn't say that what particular sanctions Mr. Trump had in mind when he issued his statement Friday. But late Friday evening, other officials confirmed that Mr. Trump's comments should be interpreted as a signal his administration wasn't currently planning additional sanctions.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Mr. Trump's relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had a bearing on the decision.

"President Trump likes Chairman Kim, and he doesn't think these sanctions will be necessary," Ms. Sanders said.

A broader question is whether Mr. Trump is undermining his own leverage in trying to get North Korea back to the negotiating table and to persuade Pyongyang to eventually give up its nuclear and long-range missile programs.

Washington has been relying on economic pressure to pursue its objectives. But the North Koreans have responded with an energetic program of sanctions evasions and have offered concessions that fall well short of the U.S. demands.

Bruce Klingner, a former Central Intelligence Agency official now at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the move was a mistake because it "undermines the U.S. maximum-pressure policy against North Korea."

"It also raises a question of whether the U.S. will impose any other sanctions on North Korea for criminal activity or human-rights violations," he said. "It also reflects apparent policy disarray in the administration, and is kind of a confusing action."

But other policy experts have urged the Trump administration to take a more flexible stance in the talks with the North instead of heightening tensions by piling on more sanctions.

South Korea's government has been interested in developing economic and diplomatic ties with the North and has hoped to get it to modify its behavior.

The steps that had been announced Thursday were the first moves by the Trump administration to tighten economic sanctions since last month's failed summit meeting in Hanoi between Messrs. Trump and Kim.

Mr. Trump values his relationship with Mr. Kim and has practiced a top-down style of diplomacy. That approach failed to bridge the divide between the two sides at last's month summit, but the White House has said Mr. Trump is still open to negotiations.

The two companies that were listed by the Treasury Department as sanctions violators are Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co.

Mr. Trump's tweet Friday initially appeared to cancel those steps, but officials said later those sanctions would remain intact.

Had they been canceled by Mr. Trump, he not only would be undermining his Treasury Department, but his National Security Council. The head of the NSC, national security adviser John Bolton, tweeted in favor of Thursday's sanctions.

But even by ordering the withdrawal of future sanctions, Mr. Trump indicated that he disagreed with those in his administration who might favor taking a harder line.

Mr. Trump in several prior cases has abruptly upended policies that often take years to formulate and implement.

Last year, the Commerce Department banned U.S. companies from selling components to the Chinese technology firm ZTE Corp., a move that imperiled the company. Mr. Trump appeared to catch his administration by surprise when he said in a 39-word tweet he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to keep the company in business.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" he said through his Twitter account.

Last August, Mr. Trump issued a four-part Twitter message countermanding then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who had said then that with U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks faltering, the U.S. would no longer refrain from conducting military exercises with ally South Korea.

The next day, Mr. Trump wrote: "The President believes that his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games."

Mr. Mattis resigned in December in large part over a crucial difference with Mr. Trump on the issue of U.S. troops in Syria after the White House declared the Islamic State extremist group defeated and ordered a withdrawal of U.S. forces, a decision widely disputed within the national security establishment.

Mr. Trump has frequently denounced national security and intelligence agencies, dismissing their conclusion that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election to help Mr. Trump's prospects.

--Alex Leary, Vivian Salama and Louise Radnofsky contributed to this article.

Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 22, 2019 22:12 ET (02:12 GMT)