Trump says China could face ‘consequences’ for coronavirus pandemic
- Trump focused much of his ire on China: its ‘weak’ economy, ‘questionable’ statistics on Covid-19 and ‘slow’ response to the virus
- US president described his performance as incredible and repeated his call to open the US economy
US President Donald Trump on Saturday criticised China on several fronts, saying that Beijing should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic.
“If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake,” Trump said. “But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences,” he told reporters at a news briefing at the White House. He did not specify what actions the US might take.
In what has become a common theme during his daily news conferences, Trump heaped blame for Covid-19 on the Democrats, the news media, governors of US states, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and all who do not appreciate what he described as his “incredible” performance.
Trump focused much of his ire on Saturday on China, touching on its currency policy, its “weak” economy, its “questionable” statistics on Covid-19 and its “slow” response to the virus.
Within a couple of minutes of striding into the room, Trump said it was necessary to look at per capita figures when evaluating the impact of Covid-19, in an apparent bid to blunt criticism of his administration’s response to the crisis.