As he prepares to embark Friday on a major 12-day foreign policy trip  to five Asian countries, President Donald Trump is finalizing plans to  secure China’s involvement in curbing the threat posed by North Korea,  officials say.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, smiles at U.S. President Donald Trump as they meet in Palm Beach, Fla., April 6, 2017.     

Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi  Jinping next Wednesday in Beijing, a day after a planned stop in South  Korea. Senior administration officials have said Trump will have  specific demands for his Chinese counterpart --- and will be prepared to  threaten consequences if China does not abide them.

Trump is expected to request that Xi impose limits on  oil exports and coal imports with the rogue dictatorship, as well as  broader limits on financial transactions with the regime, Reuters reported. China is responsible for more than 90 percent of all trade with North Korea.                                                                                                                                                                    

#Trump's Asia trip: Stops in Japan, China and beyond  https://t.co/R6agInXPaK

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Behind the scenes, Trump may also insist that the  Chinese work to convince the North Korean government in Pyongyang to  open nuclear disarmament discussions with Washington.

But a former U.S. intelligence official who is informally advising the White House on Asia policy told the Washington Times that the administration is not entirely sure what it can accomplish during the president’s visit to Beijing.

Experts say it is likely that, even if Trump's goals  are uncertain of being achieved, the president will rely on various  pressure points during his discussion with Xi.

One indirect tool at Trump’s disposal, U.S. officials  told Reuters, is the threat of imposing further economic sanctions on  North Korea. The move could destabilize the already fragile North Korean  economy and lead to a surge of poor refugees from North Korea into  China, creating a logistical headache and a potential humanitarian  crisis for Beijing.

The president could also cause problems for Xi by  formally investigating Chinese entities who administration officials say  strong-arm U.S. companies into divulging proprietary intellectual  property. The Washington Times reported that Trump, who first raised the  issue with Xi during an August phone call, is prepared to renew the  threat during next week's meeting.

And Trump, who has previously threatened  to reduce China’s access to U.S. markets if it does not take a harder  line on North Korea, will likely target the trade imbalance between the  U.S. and China. China has the largest bilateral trade surplus with the  U.S. of any country, by a significant margin.

Trump will probably tell the Chinese president, "‘I’m  coming after you on trade,’” Christopher Johnson, a China analyst at the  Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington  Times.

But Xi has sent signals that he may not be receptive to  the White House’s position. After North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un  sent Xi a congratulatory message for recently winning a second term as  China’s Communist Party leader, Xi called for “stable” relations between  the two countries.

“I wish that under the new situation the Chinese side  would make efforts with the [North Korean] side to promote the relations  between the two parties and the two countries to sustainable soundness  and stable development,” Xi wrote, according to North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency. Xi added that China and North Korea should focus on “defending regional peace and stability and common prosperity.”