Trump Thinks China Is Doing ‘Anything They Can’ To Hurt Re-Election Bid

President Donald Trump believes China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is proof that the country “will do anything they can” to hurt his re-election campaign.

“China will do anything they can to have me lose this race,” Trump told Reuters. “[Chinese officials are] constantly using public relations to try to make it like they’re innocent parties.”

Trump did not say what kinds of consequences he was considering for China.  “There are many things I can do,” he said. “We’re looking for what happened.”

As coronavirus cases in the U.S. soared past one million, Trump has been deflecting blame about the coronavirus pandemic onto China, saying the country did not properly warn the rest of the world what was coming. This marks a stark shift from his previous praise of China’s handling of the virus.

Despite his sharp criticism of the country where coronavirus first appeared, Trump and his top aides have not directly criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping, who Trump has previously called his “friend.”

Even with the two leaders’ history of camaraderie, Trump still insisted that Beijing was trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election, saying China was upset about trade regulations he had imposed.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed to reporters that they had no interest in meddling in U.S. elections.

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