Last Updated on April 29, 2020
President Donald Trump has confirmed that an investigation into the deadly coronavirus pandemic against China and the World Health Organization will be launched.
On Wednesday, President Trump said that a strong action against China will be taken out.
During a meeting with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D), Trump told reporters, “We’re coming up with a very distinct recommendation. But we’re not happy with it,” Trump said of potential economic consequences against China.
“There’s nothing positive about what happened in China having to do with this subject. Nothing positive at all.”
Since suspending funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), Trump has suggested that WHO appeared to be working for China.
China has donated $50 million to WHO in the past two month as the US–responsible for 15% of WHO’s budget–pulled funding.
Trump spoke with Louisiana’s governor as the state was hit hard by an outbreak following February’s Mardi Gras celebrations, a world renowned event that takes place every year in New Orleans.
Signaling discontent at the current situation between WHO and China, President Trump said, “We are by far the largest contributor to WHO – world health. And they misled us.”
“I don’t know – they must have known more than they knew,” added President Trump.
He added, “We knew things that they didn’t know – either they didn’t know or they didn’t tell us.”
“Right now they’re literally a pipe organ for China. That’s the way I view it. So, we’re seeing and we’re looking and we’re watching.”
“Again we give $500 million – we have over the years – from $400-$500 for a long time, for many years. And China is giving $38 million, and yet they seem to work for China,” he continued, according to The Daily Mail.
Reports indicate that the CIA, NSA, and Defense Intelligence Agency will all become involved in investigating the outbreak.
Speaking with reporters at his near-daily briefing, Trump went onto say: “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.”
President Trump also suggested potential compensation from China for the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.
A Rasmussen Poll found that 70% of Americans wanted trade restrictions with China echoing the sentiment at the White House.
Other countries have also chalked up costs due to economic damage caused by the deadly global crisis.
A United Kingdom Think Tank, The Henry Jackson Society, found that the estimated economic damage to the G7 countries was approximately $4 trillion.
A German Newspaper caused controversy after tallying up a fake invoiced for the economic damage caused to Germany–sending China a “bill” of $162 billion.
China has since tightened restrictions on academic research into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak. China even threatened Australia with economic consequences if they were to launch a similar investigation proposed by Trump.
