Trump claims China 'will do anything they can' to stop his re-election
30 April 2020, 06:23
US President Donald Trump has claimed Beijing "will do anything they can" to prevent him being re-elected, citing China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as proof.
In an Oval Office interview with news agency Reuters, the President said he was looking at different options in terms of consequences for Beijing over the virus. “I can do a lot,” he said, without going into detail.
President Trump said China should have informed the world about coronavirus much sooner.
For the first time, the President directly linked Beijing to his re-election campaign in November. He claimed, “China will do anything they can to have me lose this race,” he said.
Mr Trump also said he believed China wants his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, to win the race to ease the pressure on US-China trade relations.
China and the US have been involved in a tit-for-tat trade war, with both sides imposing tariffs on one another.
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President Trump has come in for criticism over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and comments he made at a White House press briefing over injecting disinfectant as a possible treatment for Covid-19.
The latest polling suggesting 43 per cent of Americans approving of his handling of the pandemic, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on 27-28 April, days after the president’s discredited comments on injecting disinfectant.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the USA is over one million, more than a third of total worldwide cases.
