“We are not happy with China,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “We are not happy with that whole situation because we believe it could have been stopped at the source.
“It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn’t have spread all over the world,” he said.
Read more: Covid-19 disaster: Will US shift its focus from imperialism to healthcare system?
“There are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable,” Trump said. “We’re doing some very serious investigations as you probably know.”
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that he may seek damages from China over the coronavirus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the world. #BangkokPost #World https://t.co/pBgCU7DJBG
— Bangkok Post (@BangkokPostNews) April 28, 2020
Trump was asked about a recent German newspaper editorial which called on China to pay Germany $165 billion in reparations because of economic damage done by the virus.
Asked if the US would consider doing the same, the US president said: “We can do something much easier than that.”
“Germany is looking at things, we are looking at things,” he said. “We are talking about a lot more money than Germany’s talking about.”
Read more: Trump plans to open everything despite record deaths in US
“We haven’t determined the final amount yet,” Trump said. “It’s very substantial.
“This is worldwide damage,” he said. “This is damage to the US, but this is damage to the world.”
Before this statement, Donald trump was continuously calling the virus as a ”Chinese virus” because he believed it originated from China. Now, the situation has become worst as Donald Trump is demanding economic losses from China that the US suffered because of coronavirus.
The Wuhan virus lab was also the main subject of suspicion some time ago. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for an open inspection of the lab where dangerous virus species are studied.
There have been more than 55,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the United States and the pandemic has shut down huge swathes of the economy, leaving tens of millions unemployed.
AFP with additional input from GVS News Desk.