President Trump says US may seek damages from China over virus
US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that he could demand compensation from China for the spread of the virus, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the world.
"We are not happy with China," Trump said at a White House briefing. "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," he said.
"There are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable," Trump said. "We're doing some very serious investigations as you probably know."
Trump was asked about a recent editorial in a German newspaper calling on China to pay Germany $165 billion in economic damages caused by the virus.
Asked if the United States would consider doing the same, the president said "we can do something much easier than that."
"Germany is looking at things, we are looking at things," he said. "We are talking about a lot more money than Germany's talking about."
"We haven't determined the final amount yet," Trump said. "It's very substantial.
"This is worldwide damage," he said. "This is damage to the US, but this is damage to the world."
More than 55,000 corona virus-related deaths have occurred in the United States, and epidemic has crippled the economy at a large scale, leaving millions jobless.
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