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WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened China with new tariffs as he intensified his attacks on Beijing over the coronavirus crisis, saying he had seen evidence linking a Wuhan lab to the contagion.
The Republican incumbent’s tirade came as data showed the United States cut more than 30 million jobs in six weeks, as the shutdown measures began to affect the entire country.
Sadness in the world’s largest economy found its parallel across the Atlantic, where experts warned of an unprecedented financial catastrophe in Europe.
The outbreak of the new coronavirus so far has killed more than 230,000 people and forced more than half of humanity to live under lockdown, paralyzing economies.
The virus is believed to have originated late last year from a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan that sold wild animals for human consumption, but there has been speculation about a top-secret laboratory in ground zero city.
When asked if he had seen anything that gave him a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of the outbreak, Trump replied, “Yes, I have.”
Pressed by White House reporters for details on what made him so confident, Trump replied, “I can’t tell you that.”
Trump is increasingly making managing the outbreak in Beijing a major topic for his re-election campaign in November.
When asked about reports that he could cancel the United States’ debt obligations to China, Trump said he could “do it differently” and act “probably more directly.”
“I could do the same thing but even for more money, simply by imposing tariffs,” he said.
Despite a truce in the long trade war between Washington and Beijing reached in January, the tariffs are already in place on two-thirds of trade between the economic powers.
Eurozone sadness
European and US markets ended the day in negative territory, as a series of figures confirmed fears about how the Covid-19 crisis is pulverizing global growth.
The latest unemployment claims from an additional 3.84 million Americans translate into a jarring conclusion: Approximately 9% of the United States population has applied for unemployment benefits in six weeks.
In the state of Michigan, in the midwestern United States. The US, protesters, some of them armed, broke into the state capitol building and demanded that the Democratic governor remove the strict closing rules, which they say harm the economy and represent excessive government reach.
Depressing US job data compounded the harsh message from the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde.
“The euro area is facing an economic contraction of unprecedented magnitude and speed in peacetime,” he warned.
ECB economists expect output in the 19-nation currency club to shrink by “5 to 12%” this year, he added.
Eurostat figures showed that the eurozone economy had shrunk by 3.8% in the first quarter.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, “will experience the worst recession in the history of the federal republic,” founded in 1949, economy minister Peter Altmaier warned, predicting that it would shrink by a record 6.3%.
Drug Trial Raises Hope
The coronavirus virus has infected at least 3.2 million people so far, and Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has become the latest high-profile figure to test positive as the number of cases in the country exceeded 100,000.
But there was some reason to cheer.
US scientists reported that positive evidence for improved treatment, and with deaths and infections beginning to drop at some critical points, countries discussed the next phase in their plans to lift the crippling blockade measures.
On Thursday, Germany accelerated plans to start lifting its antivirus blockade, preparing to ease restrictions on public life and reopen religious institutions, museums and zoos, after restarting purchases last week.
A decision will be made next week on when to reopen schools.
“It is still absolutely important that we be disciplined,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In South Korea, where Covid-19 was detected in mid-February, no new infections were reported for the first time, suggesting that its aggressive testing and tracking strategy is working.
The death toll in South Korea is around 250, far lower than in Italy, Britain, Spain and France, which recorded at least 24,000 deaths.
The United States tops the table with more than 62,000 deaths.
Italy, once the global hub for the outbreak, said Thursday it hoped to reopen two major airports next week, but, like Spain, plans a cautious reopening.
“We cannot allow the efforts made to be in vain due to the precipitation at this delicate stage,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who fought Covid-19, said the country was “beyond the peak” of its outbreak.
“Clear effect”
Meanwhile, in the first evidence of successful treatment, a US clinical trial. USA From the drug remdesivir showed that patients recovered approximately 30% faster than those who received a placebo.
“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear, significant, and positive effect on decreasing recovery time,” said Anthony Fauci, the leading epidemiologist in the United States.
But it is a treatment, not the vaccine so sought after that it could allow a complete return to normal life.
More than 130 virus therapies are currently being investigated, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said Thursday.
Most are still in the early stages of testing, but more than 25 clinical trials have started, IFPMA director Thomas Cueni said.
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