06/18/2020 - 16:05
- Clarín.com
- World
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, suggested on Thursday that the Chinese government contributed to expanding the virus internationally on an "intentional" basis with the aim of "destabilizing" competitive economies.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal , the New York magnate, who has already raised controversy on previous occasions for pointing Beijing as the culprit of the pandemic, has asserted that "there is a possibility that it was on purpose."
Trump, who has dropped that he lacks intelligence information in this regard, has pointed out in turn that there is also the possibility that the spread of the virus "was indeed an accident."
"You never know," he has insisted without ignoring the context in which his Administration would have damaged the Chinese economy by imposing tariff rates. "They are saying they have problems. They are accusing the United States of drowning them (financially speaking). Do not forget that my economic measures over the last year and a half have sunk them," he asserted.
Thus, he stressed that "the reason for this is the tariff rates", an issue that has caused a trade confrontation between the two countries and that had led them to reach a first phase of an agreement before the coronavirus pandemic occurred. .
However, the tension between Beijing and Washington has been steadily increasing, largely in relation to the coronavirus outbreak, which was first detected in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Trump has accused China in recent months of not being "transparent" enough about COVID-19 and its initial expansion. In this regard, several members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have pointed out that the virus could have "escaped" from a Chinese laboratory.
For the American president, the North American country, the most affected in the world by the pandemic, is already near the end of the health crisis, despite the fact that 2.1 million cases and 117,972 deaths have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic. .
Source: Europa Press