President Trump said Tuesday that his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping has grown tightly as a result of the novel pandemic coronavirus.
“I used to have a very good relationship with him,” Trump told OutKick host Clay Travis in an interview. “I love him, but I do not feel the same way now.”
CORONAVIRUS has infected more than 20 million people worldwide
He said his relationship with Xi began to fade amid the outbreak of the virus, and in his latest remarks, Trump revealed that he had not spoken to Xi in a long time.
“We now have a much different relationship with China,” he told OutKick. “I still have a good relationship, but when the plague – I call it the plague – came from China, the relationship changed.”
Trump, who is running for office this November, said the situation surrounding the progress of COVID-19 is worse than the conflict between the countries over trade.
TRUMP FIRES BACK AGAINST ‘MASSIVE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN’ FROM CHINA ‘OVER CORONAVIRUS
“I did not find what happened,” he said. “This is a thousand times the trade thing that happened with all the death … the world had to shut down, it’s a shame what happened.”
The virus was first discovered late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has been linked to a hectic food market where wild animals were sold. Scientists think it’s likely a wild animal like a bat jumped to humans through an intermediary, possibly the anteater-like pangolin.
More than 20 million people worldwide are infected, and about 163,500 people in the U.S. have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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