China's Communist Party must pay for its role in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Monday, but he wouldn't comment if that means he's advising President Donald Trump to impose new tariffs on China or to throw out the "Phase One" trade deal reached earlier this year.
“A bill has to come due for China,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “It’s not a question of punishing them, it’s a question of holding China accountable, the Chinese Communist Party accountable...they inflicted tremendous damage on the world which is still ongoing. We’re up to close to $10 trillion we’ve had to appropriate to fight this battle.”
The trade deal, which took effect in February, requires China to increase purchases of U.S. goods by $200 billion over two years. However, the two nations are blaming each other for the pandemic.
Trump told Fox News last week that he's "very torn" about continuing with the deal, and Navarro told the network's "Fox and Friends" on Monday that it is the president's decision to make about the matter.
The trade negotiations, however, are continuing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, after speaking with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He about the agreement, issued a statement reporting that they had agreed to move forward on the trade deal “in spite of the current global health emergency."
"Both sides agreed that good progress is being made on creating the governmental infrastructures necessary to make the agreement a success," their statement said. "Meetings required by the agreement have been conducted via conference call and will continue on a regular basis."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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