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The Trump administration says it has new momentum to expand international pressure on North Korea following a unanimous U.N. Security Council vote to ramp up economic sanctions as punishment for Pyongyangs recent long-range ballistic missile tests.

President Trump hailed a Security Council resolution that passed Saturday with cooperation from both Russia and China, North Koreas neighbor and main trading partner. The president tweeted that the development is the single largest economic sanctions package ever on North Korea and will have a very big financial impact.

News of the sanctions, which seek to ban North Korea from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood worth about a third of its total income from trade, came as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived over the weekend at an annual diplomatic gathering in East Asia, where Chinese officials expressed cautious support for the development.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who held separate meetings Sunday with Mr. Tillerson and with North Koreas top diplomat, publicly urged Pyongyang to maintain calm and not violate the U.N.s decision or provoke international societys goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests.

Mr. Wangs comments appeared to signal progress in the long-elusive U.S. strategy of trying to deepen Chinese cooperation toward more aggressively implementing sanctions against North Korea. However, there were also indications that Beijing remains wary about taking a lead role in containing Pyongyang.

Who has been carrying out the U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea? It is China, said Mr. Wang in Manila on Sunday. Who bore the cost? It is also China.

Mr. Tillerson also met with his South Korean counterpart Sunday and A White House official said South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked to speak with Mr. Trump by phone Sunday night. The White House said it would provide details of their conversation later.

The Security Council resolution, drafted by U.S. officials and carefully negotiated with the Chinese, seeks to increase pressure on Pyongyang to return to stalled international negotiations over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

U.S. and Chinese officials dont exactly see eye-to-eye on the prospect of such negotiations. The perception is that China wants negotiations to occur more rapidly than Washington, while the Trump administration, which has flirted with the alternative idea of backing all-out regime change in Pyongyang, has expressed frustration that the Chinese arent putting enough pressure on the North Koreans.

During his initial months in office, Mr. Trump voiced optimism about Chinas role, but has more recently leveled veiled criticism at Beijing, saying at one point that Chinese President Xi Jinping had tried to help on North Korea and it has not worked out.

The administration has also teased the idea of expending Washingtons own unilateral North Korea sanctions to target Chinese companies as punishment for Chinas ongoing trade with Pyongyang and overall perceived inaction on North Korea.

Some analysts go so far as to claim Beijing tacitly backs Pyongyang to antagonize Washington and maintain a strategic security edge in the region.

Mr. Tillerson said nothing publicly about North Korea following his meeting with Mr. Wang on Sunday, but did express broad optimism earlier in the day, calling the U.N. Security Council resolution a good outcome.

The council voted 15-0 on the new sanctions, which, if fully implemented, could deliver a $3 billion blow to revenues Pyongyang gets from exports to China and a handful of other trading partners. The sanctions also aim to block countries from giving any additional permits to North Korean workers, another source of money for Kim Jong-uns regime in Pyongyang.

The vote followed the regimes first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. last month. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Saturday that Mr. Trump appreciates Chinas and Russias cooperation in securing passage of this resolution.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the Security Council had succeeded in putting the Kim regime on notice and what happens next is up to North Korea. Even prominent critics of Mr. Trump said the vote was an important step. Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul called the vote a genuine foreign policy achievement.

This article is based in part on wire service reports.

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Donald Trump hails UN's vote to further sanction North Korea - Washington Times