US President Donald Trump, on Thursday, threatened to impose new tariffs on China blaming it for the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump said he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence, increasing the tensions with Beijing over the origins of the deadly disease.
When asked about any evidence backing his claims, he responded saying, “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
According to US officials, ‘there is a discussion as to how hard to hit China and how to calibrate it properly’.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has categorically dismissed the allegations of spreading the COVID-19 coronavirus.
United States and China reached a trade agreement in January, after engaging in a trade-war that saw both the countries imposing significant tariffs on each others’ products. Around two-thirds of the trade between the two countries has been subjected to tariffs.
The United States currently impose 25 per cent tariffs on the import of Chinese goods amounting to US$370 billion
Furthermore, Larry Kudlow – White House economic adviser has dismissed the report claiming that US might cancel some of the massive U.S. debt held by China.
“The full faith and credit of US debt obligations is sacrosanct,” he noted.
United States has been the worst hit country from the COVID-19 pandemic, with severe economic repercussions as well. Around 30.3 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits in the past six weeks.
