US could impose new tariffs on China as retaliatory measure over COVID-19: Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump issued new warnings saying America could impose new tariffs as a retaliatory measure due to coronavirus outbreak that has claimed tens of thousands of lives across the world. The US President was asked during a press conference whether the administration would consider cancelling the debt obligations to China to punish them for the virus outbreak.

“I could do it differently, I could do the same thing but even for more money, just by putting on tariffs,” said Trump.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Beijing of covering the dangerous nature of the disease and not reporting the sustained human-to-human transmission until it was spread in every province of China. State Secretary Mike Pompeo had said that China not only halted the testing of new samples but also destroyed the existing samples.

Speculations around origin

There has also been controversy over the origin of the virus after French Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier claimed that the novel coronavirus originated from a Wuhan laboratory in an attempt to manufacture a vaccine against HIV. US President also claimed with a higher degree of confidence that the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Trump added that he doesn’t hold Chinese President Xi Jinping responsible for the initial outbreak but it could have been stopped.

Read: Covid Originated From China's Wuhan Lab, Hints Trump Who Is 'not Allowed' To Say More

According to the latest report, over 3.3 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with over 234,000 deaths, overwhelming the health care facilities across the globe. The United States, Italy, Spain and France are the worst-hit countries due to the pandemic with around 62 per cent of death toll reported from these four countries alone. 

Read: 'WHO Should Be Ashamed Of Itself, It's Like China's PR Agency': Trump Launches Wild Attack

The numbers get more sombre for the US as it has reported over a million cases, one-third of the worldwide cases, and nearly 64,000 deaths due to the infectious disease. Within the United States, New York has reported almost one-third of the nationwide coronavirus cases and almost one-tenth of the worldwide cases.

Read: 'I Think Sometimes What I Feel Is Better Than What I Think': Trump Eyes Post-Covid Rebound

Read: 'China Doesn't Want To See Me Elected': US President Trump Makes Spectacular Allegation

(Image: AP)