Trump: No talks with Xi right now

Washington, May 16: US President Donald Trump has said that he does not want to talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping right now, expressing his displeasure at Beijing’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak which has spread across the world, killing over 309,000 people.

The US has expressed disappointment over China’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed 88,728 lives in America. President Trump on Thursday threatened to “cut off the whole relationship” with China.

The president has been pressing China to agree for an inquiry into the origin of the virus, including the allegation that it emerged from a lab in Wuhan. “Just don’t want to talk to him right now. We will see what happens over the next little while,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, when asked why he did not want to not speak to Xi.

China, as per the trade deal inked earlier this year, is buying a lot more of American goods than last year. “They are spending a lot on the trade deal, but the trade deal I don’t know somehow I lost a little flavour for it, you can understand,” Trump said. Earlier in the day, Trump said he did not want to talk about the trade deal with China.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I can say China is buying a lot of our products. But the trade deal — the ink was barely dry — when this (Covid-19) came in from China. So, it’s not like we”re thrilled,” he said. “This should have never happened. This came from China. It should have been stopped in China before it got out to the world. 213 countries are affected. Each country that’s affected is the same thing. Russia now is badly affected. France is badly affected. You look at each country and you can say ‘affected’ or you can say ‘infected’, either way you want to put it,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that President Trump was frustrated with China. “I will leave it

to the president as to when he resumes speaking with the Chinese leader. But look, China slow walked this. I’ve shared with you guys before on human-to-human transmission. It was really important that the world knew of that aspect of the disease, but that information was slow walked through to the World Health Organisation,” she said.

The genetic sequencing, likewise, was not given until a professor in Shanghai did so on his own. The president has repeatedly noted that why are they letting flights out of China but not into China? These decisions put American lives at risk. Not just American lives, the lives around the globe, she said.

“We know that this disease came from China, and why that information was not shared, some of it I just suggested is really unacceptable. So he’s frustrated, and I’ll leave it to him,” she said.