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Trump blames China’s virus response on desire to see him lose
Trump -- speaking in an Oval Office interview with Reuters published Wednesday -- didn’t provide evidence to support the claim that China would deliberately mishandle an outbreak that has killed more than 4,600 of its citizens
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US President Donald Trump compares a swab for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing with regular cotton swabs during the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 19, 2020. (REUTERS/Al Drago)
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onald Trump blamed China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak on a desire to see him lose in November, as the US president intensified efforts to fault Beijing for his reelection challenges.
Trump -- speaking in an Oval Office interview with Reuters published Wednesday -- didn’t provide evidence to support the claim that China would deliberately mishandle an outbreak that has killed more than 4,600 of its citizens. The president said that he was considering various ways to punish the Chinese government, which he has blamed for allowing the virus to spread across the world.
“China will do anything they can to have me lose this race,” Trump said in the interview. He didn’t say what punitive actions he might take, but added: “There are many things I can do.”
Trump also said during the interview that the US trade deal with China had been “upset very badly” by the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis. The slowdown has made it more difficult for China to meet purchasing pledges included in a “phase one” trade pact reached between the two sides in January.
Officials in Washington and Beijing have been firing charges at each other for weeks as the US became one of the countries hardest-hit by a disease first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The dispute has complicated global efforts to mount a coordinated response to the virus, with US officials emphasizing Chinese responsibility for failing to stop its spread.
Republicans have been ratcheting up efforts to paint China as the villain, as Trump faces increased criticism of his handling of a crisis that has pushed the US economy toward recession. Some 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday, while other surveys show the president trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden nationally and in key swing states.
China helped escalate the blame game with the US in March when a foreign ministry spokesman shared speculation on social media that American military personnel introduced the virus to Wuhan. While Trump has held off from the calling the pathogen that causes Covid-19 the “Chinese virus,” his campaign sent out a letter earlier this month accusing the country of “lying” about the outbreak.
Earlier Wednesday, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that China posed a threat to the world by hiding information about the origin of the coronavirus. The comments came after state broadcaster China Central Television’s top evening news program questioned the transparency and accuracy of US data on Covid-19 infections.
“The Chinese Communist Party now has a responsibility to tell the world how this pandemic got out of China and all across the world, causing such global economic devastation,” Pompeo told Fox News in an interview in which he repeatedly criticized Beijing. “America needs to hold them accountable.”
