White House adviser clarifies statement after calling US-China trade deal 'over'

While the coronavirus outbreak has resurfaced the tensions between the United States and China, the White House’s stance over its trade deal generated a fresh wave of confusion. The White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, on one hand, said that the China-US trade deal is “over” especially after the coronavirus contagion. But just hours after the top China trade adviser’s comments, US President Donald Trump took on Twitter to declare that the agreement with Beijing is “fully intact”. This was reportedly followed by Navarro himself saying his comments were taken out of context and he was not referring to the deal but the lack of trust between both nations. 

Amid the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, both nations have openly indulged in a war of words with the US calling the novel virus as “Chinese Virus”, and Beijing calling out Washington on its “hypocrisy” and handling of the global health crisis. Trump has previously even threatened that he would end all ties with China. In the same light, Navarro, who has been a public critic of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a televised interview with an international media outlet that Asian superpower’s role in delaying the information about the coronavirus outbreak has fueled the end of its political and economic negotiations with the US. 

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‘Turning point’

In the same interview, after saying that China-US trade deal is “over”, the White House trade adviser also explained the “turning point” in the negotiations. He claimed that the US learned about the pandemic only after the Chinese delegation left Washington after the signing of phase one of US-China trade deal on January 15. While the novel coronavirus had already begun to rock Chinese cities, Navarro said, they had already sent hundreds of thousands of people to the US to spread the fatal disease. 

Moreover, the White House trade adviser also noted that it was only a few minutes after the plane with Chinese diplomats took off that the US officials started hearing about the pandemic. However, despite openly lashing out on China, Donald Trump has tweeted that the deal is intact with the hopes that Beijing would adhere to the terms of the negotiations.  After which, Navarro also reportedly clarified that his comments were taken out of context because the phase one deal is still in place but he was referring to the cloud of mistrust between both nations. 

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