U.S.-China relationship is ‘severely damaged,’ phase II trade deal not a priority: Trump

President Donald Trump said that he isn’t thinking about a possible next stage of the U.S. trade deal with China, adding that the relationship between the two nations has been “severely damaged” by the coronavirus pandemic.

“They could have stopped the plague. They could have stopped it. They didn’t stop it,” Trump said on Air Force One en route to Florida, according to reporters present on the plane.

Asked if that friction meant “phase two” of the U.S.-China trade deal would no longer happen, Trump said he wasn’t even thinking about it and that he had many other things on his mind.

The status of the trade agreement between the two economic superpowers, the first phase of which was signed and went into effect earlier this year, has come under question amid the Covid-19 crisis.