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US President Donald Trump holds the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 18, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowsk | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his habit of calling coronavirus the “Chinese virus.”
“It’s not racist at all,” Trump said at a White House press conference to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump was asked about his persistent use of the term “Chinese virus” despite health officials saying the virus does not have an ethnicity, and concerns that Asians in the United States have been blamed for allegedly spreading the coronavirus.
“Because it comes from China,” Trump said to the reporter who asked him that question.
“I want to be accurate.”
Trump also said that Chinese government officials originally “tried to say … that it was caused by American soldiers.”
The president said he would push back against such false claims by China, which has strongly objected to the use of the term “Chinese virus.”
Trump has repeatedly called coronavirus the “Chinese virus” on Twitter, including in a tweet announcing his press conference Wednesday.
In another tweet Wednesday, Trump wrote, “I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the “borders” from China – against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called coronavirus the “Wuhan virus” during recent public appearances.
China Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang criticized Pompeo and others for using such terms last week.
“We condemn the despicable practice of individual U.S. politicians eagerly stigmatizing China and Wuhan by association with the novel coronavirus, disrespecting science and WHO,” Geng said at a press briefing.
“The international society has a fair judgment, and Pompeo’s attempts of slandering China’s efforts in combating the epidemic is doomed to fail.”
Losses on U.S. stock market indices accelerated as Trump spoke at the press conference. The New York Stock Exchange at one point halted trading as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to a level below to what it was when Trimp was inaugurated in January 2017.
Later in the press conference, Trump was asked if he believes that China has inflicted the coronavirus on the United States.
“No, I don’t believe they’re inflicting,” he said.
But, Trump added, “I think they could have given us a lot earlier notice” about the outbreak of the virus in the Wuhan province.
Trump earlier Wednesday announced that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had agreed to temporarily close their nations’ joint border, the longest in the world, to non-essential traffic in a bid to slow the spread of the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, there have been more than 210,000 cases worldwide of coronavirus, with more than 8,000 deaths.
In the United States, there have been nearly 6,500 reported cases, and at least 114 deaths.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.