President Donald Trump has spent the past week trying to deal with the coronavirus as it has shut down much of the country and tanked the stock markets.
Recently, the president has been referring to the virus as the āChinese virus,ā and some critics have accused him of racism.
In a tweet on Wednesday, he wrote, āI 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 ābordersā from China ā against the wishes of almost all.ā
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Trump was asked why he continues to refer to the coronavirus as the āChinese virus,ā and he was unapologetic.
āWhy do you keep using this?ā the reporter asked.
The president said, āBecause it comes from China, itās not racist at all. No, not at all. It comes from China, thatās why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate.ā
Asked if he is concerned about Chinese-Americans in the country, Trump responded, āI have great love for all of the people from our country, but as you know, China tried to say at one point ā maybe they stopped now ā that it was caused by American soldiers. That canāt happen, itās not going to happen, not as long as Iām president. It comes from China.ā
Hereās that clip:
The Chinese government reportedly previously tried to hide the extent of the coronavirus from the world and allegedly took steps to stop experts from spreading information about the virus.
While the virus originated in China, it has become an American problem over the past few weeks. The Trump administration has made a lot of decisions to fight the virus and their latest plan is a massive cash influx into the economy as the stock market crumbles.