Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
US President Donald Trump while addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday demanded that changes be made urgently to the ‘world trading system’.
Adding that the US trade deficit with China is ‘not acceptable’, he also defended his trade war with the Asian giant.
“Last month, we announced a groundbreaking US-Mexico trade agreement. Yesterday, I stood with (South Korean) President Moon (Jae-in) to announce the successful completion of the brand-new US-Korea trade deal,” said Trump.
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“This is just the beginning. Many nations in this hall will agree that the world trading system is in dire need of change,” he declared.
Trump warned that the US “will no longer tolerate it and we will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred.”
“The United States has just announced tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese-made goods. The total so far of $250 billion,” he said.
“I have great respect and affection for my friend, (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping), but I have made clear that our trade imbalance is just not acceptable. The market distortions and the way that they deal cannot be tolerated as my administration has demonstrated,” Trump said.
He added, “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the ideology of patriotism.”
“Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived, democracy has ever endured, or peace has ever prospered,” said the US leader.
“Together, let us choose a future of patriotism, prosperity, and pride. Let us choose peace and freedom over domination and defeat,” he said addressing the assembly.
(With agency inputs)
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