Trump threatens China as US coronavirus toll exceeds predictions
US President Donald Trump has suggested the country could seek reparations from China as the coronavirus death tolls shows little signs of slowing down in the country.
The beleaguered US leader, who is under fire at home for his administration’s handling of the pandemic, said China could have stopped the coronavirus before it swept the globe.
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“We're doing very serious investigations. We are not happy with China,” Trump said at a White House news conference Monday, local time.
“There are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable.
“We believe it could have been stopped at the source. It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn't have spread all over the world.”
Trump hinted that the US could seek financial compensation stemming from the outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
“Germany is looking at things and we’re looking at things. And we’re talking about a lot more money than Germany is talking about,” he told journalists.
“We haven’t determined the final amount yet,” he said, seemingly referring to a potential reparations claim.
“It’s very substantial. If you take a look at the world — I mean, this is worldwide damage.”
Last week, an editorial in a German tabloid newspaper sent a mock €150 billion (A$250 billion) bill to China over the coronavirus crisis. However an online article suggesting German Chancellor Angela Merkel was behind the bill went viral, leading to false reports that the government had something to do with the stunt.
It was these reports that Trump seemed to be referring to.
There have been more than 56,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the US and the crisis has shut down huge swathes of the economy, leaving tens of millions of Americans unemployed.
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As the pandemic rolls on, the fallout is putting a strain on the relationship governments around the world have with the Chinese Communist Party – and tensions are flaring.
Trump’s thinly veiled threat comes as a Chinese offical warned the country’s public could boycott Australian products, tourism and universities if the Morrison government continued to push for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne cautioned China against attempts at “economic coercion” in response to Australia’s support for an independent review of the COVID-19 crisis.
“We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global cooperation,” she said.
Trump feels pressure as US passes coronavirus peak projection
The US leader has failed to see a bump in public support enjoyed by most Western leaders facing the coronavirus pandemic and continues to be criticised for using rambling press conferences to attack rivals and volunteering potentially harmful treatments.
Critics have accused Trump of deflecting from his government’s mismanagement by shifting blame and attacking China and the World Health Organisation.
His latest attack comes nearly two weeks after Trump said the country had likely reached its peak number of new cases – a projection that has failed to materialise.
“The data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak on new cases," the president said on April 15.
At the time, the country had recorded more than 600,000 cases and around 28,000 deaths.
“Hopefully that will continue, and we will continue to make great progress,” he said.
"We'll be the comeback kids.”
However the pandemic has continued to rip through the country, which has now confirmed close to a million cases with the most new cases in a single day recorded on April 24.
After weeks of lockdown measures and stay-at-home orders in states across the country, COVID-19 cases in the US have begun to come down and reach a “plateau”, says Dr Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security.
“I would say that we are, for lack of better words, maybe near the end of the beginning of this pandemic in this country,” he told Fox News on Sunday, local time.
“We have reached a plateau nationally at this point. I mean trends can change over time, but at this point we have a plateau in new cases per day.
“Unfortunately, it is a very high plateau,” he added.
During Monday’s press conference, Trump projected that coronavirus deaths in the United States could reach 70,000.
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