Trump blames Wuhan lab for coronavirus, threatens China tariffs

Trump said he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing over the origins of the deadly disease.

Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"Yes, yes I have," he said, declining to give specifics. "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."

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The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology has dismissed the allegations, and other US officials have downplayed their likelihood. Most experts believe the virus originated in a market selling wildlife in Wuhan and jumped from animals to people.

Reporting from Beijing on Friday, FRANCE 24's correspondent Charles Pellegrin said the Chinese foreign ministry responded to Trump's accusations by highlighting China's "contribution to the global effort to curb the spread of Covid-19".

The ministry also suggested that some US politicians were "attempting to shirk their responsibilities in the mismanagement of the crisis in their own country [...] by pointing the finger at China," Pellegrin said.

Trump has shown increasing frustration with China in recent weeks over the pandemic, which has cost tens of thousands of lives in the United States alone, sparked an economic contraction and threatened his chances of re-election in November.

The Republican president said previously his administration was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from the Wuhan lab, following media reports it may have been artificially synthesized at a China state-backed laboratory or perhaps escaped from such a facility.

The coronavirus outbreak has contributed to a deepening rift between the Trump administration and China, with Beijing suggesting the US military might have brought the coronavirus to China and Trump saying China failed to alert the world to coronavirus risks in a timely and transparent fashion.

Trump also said on Thursday it was possible that China either could not stop the spread of the coronavirus or let it spread. He declined to say whether he held Chinese President Xi Jinping responsible for what he feels is misinformation about the emergence of the coronavirus.

Trump told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that he was looking at different options in terms of consequences for Beijing over the virus. "I can do a lot," he said.

Asked about reports he could cancel US debt obligations to China in the row over the origins of the coronavirus, Trump said he "can do it with tariffs."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)