Donald Trump spoke on Monday of the possibility of asking Beijing to pay billions of dollars in compensation for the damage caused by the new coronavirus, which appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan. "We are unhappy with China," the disease "could have been stopped at the source and has not spread around the world," said the President during his daily press briefing on the pandemic.
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"We are talking about a lot more money"
"There are several ways to hold him responsible, we are conducting a very serious investigation" into this matter, added Donald Trump. A journalist then questioned him about an editorial in the German magazine Bild which asked Beijing to pay $ 165 billion in reparations to Berlin.
"We are talking about a lot more money," replied the Republican billionaire. "We have not yet determined the final amount, but it is very high," he added. "There has been damage not only in the United States, but worldwide," he said.
Nearly one million Covid-19 patients and 56,000 dead have been identified in the United States, where the economy is suffering cruelly from the containment measures taken to try to stem the pandemic.
Repeated accusations against Beijing
"We will never forget those people who were sacrificed because of incompetence, or perhaps something else, at a time when they could have protected the world," said the president.
For weeks, he has accused Beijing of having delayed informing the world about the extent of the disease and minimizing the number of deaths on its territory. His administration also said it did not rule out that the new coronavirus had been accidentally spread from a bat research laboratory in Wuhan.
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On April 18, Donald Trump had already warned China of possible "consequences" if it was "knowingly responsible" for the coronavirus pandemic.