President Trump on Tuesday said he hasn’t spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping in “a long time,” telling a sports radio host that the relationship between the two leaders has frayed due to the coronavirus.
“I had a great relationship with President Xi,” Trump told Clay Travis of Fox Sports Radio. “I like him. But I don’t feel the same way now.”
“I didn’t like what took place,” Trump continued, referring to the coronavirus pandemic. “This is not trade. This is a thousand times the trade deal, what happened with all of the death and all of the world — the world had to shut down. It’s a disgrace what happened.”
Trump added that he “had a very good relationship” with Xi, but that “I certainly feel differently” now.
Trump’s deteriorated relationship with Xi comes after he spent much of the first years of his presidency speaking fondly of the Chinese leader as the two pursued a trade deal.
The president has shifted his tone toward Xi since the early days of the pandemic, which originated in Chinese city of Wuhan. While Trump praised his Chinese counterpart in January for his transparency and response to the outbreak, he has since taken to blaming Beijing almost daily and referring to COVID-19 as the “China Virus.”
The United States has by far the most confirmed COVID-19 cases of any country in the world at more than 5 million, and more than 160,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus.
U.S. intelligence agencies reported last week that China is a threat to interfere in the 2020 elections and that Beijing does not want Trump to win reelection because it views him as “unpredictable.”