President Donald Trump defended Tuesday his practice of referring to the coronavirus as a “Chinese Virus” despite criticism that the term was racist.
“I have to call it where it came from, it did come from China, so I think it’s a very accurate term,” he said.
Trump said he used the term to remind the world of the origin of the virus after China suggested that it originated from the United States military.
“Well China was putting out information which was false, that our military gave this to them, that was false,” Trump said.
When asked if he thought the term unfairly created a “stigma,” Trump replied, “No I don’t think so. I think that saying our military gave it to them creates a stigma.”
On Monday and Tuesday Trump twice used the phrase to refer to the coronavirus.
“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “We will be stronger than ever before!”