Trump says evidence ties virus to Wuhan lab, threatens tariffs

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened new tariffs against Beijing as he claimed to have seen evidence linking the coronavirus to a lab in China's ground-zero city of Wuhan.

Asked if he had seen anything giving him a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of the outbreak, Mr Trump replied, "Yes, I have."

Pressed by reporters at the White House for details on what made him so confident, Mr Trump replied: "I cannot tell you that."

Asked about reports he could cancel US debt obligations to China in the row over the origins of the coronavirus, Mr Trump said he "can do it with tariffs."

AFP