For months, Donald Trump has accused China of sending the coronavirus to the United States
Washington:
US President Donald Trump closed the door to “phase 2” trade negotiations with China on Tuesday, saying he did not want to talk to Beijing about trade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m not interested in talking to China right now,” Trump said in a CBS News interview if the phase 2 trade talks were dead.
“We have a great trade deal,” said Trump, referring to the phase 1 agreement signed in January.
“But as soon as the deal was made, the ink was not even dry and they hit us with the plague,” he said, referring to the novel coronavirus, which first emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan.
For months, Trump blamed China for sending the coronavirus to the United States, saying that China must be “held accountable” for not containing the disease.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, jeopardizing Trump’s hopes of being re-elected in November. China has pledged to increase purchases of US agricultural and manufactured goods, energy and services by $ 200 billion (£ 159 billion) over two years as part of the Phase 1 trade deal, but Trump said the pandemic has changed its mind on the deal.
At the White House, Trump announced that he had signed law and an executive order to hold China accountable for the “oppressive” national security law it imposed on Hong Kong.
The measure approved by Congress, the latest in a series of measures to increase pressure on Beijing, gives the Trump administration the power to penalize banks doing business with Chinese officials who are implementing the new law. Beijing on national security in Hong Kong.
Trump has said he has no plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic started, few commercial observers in Washington expected phase 2 negotiations to bear fruit before the 2020 elections.
While Phase 1 focused mainly on Chinese purchases of US goods, improved US access to the Chinese financial services market and some intellectual property issues, Phase 2 focused on solving much more problems. difficulties linked to Chinese technology transfer policies, industrial espionage and government subsidies to the state. businesses owned by individuals.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
