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President Donald Trump says he’s disappointed with China over its response to the coronavirus crisis and that he doesn’t want to speak with the country’s president as investors fret over the state of the trade relationship.
“I have a very good relationship,” Trump said about Chinese President Xi Jinping in a Fox Business Network interview. “Right now I don’t want to speak to him.”
Trump has repeatedly faulted China over the country’s handling of coronavirus outbreak which originated in the city of Wuhan in December. His comments from the interview weighed on U.S. stocks DJIA, +1.62% early Thursday, though equities rebounded in the afternoon.
Trump also said now is a “great time” to have a strong U.S. dollar, in a notable departure from the criticism he has made in the past.
“You know, we’re paying zero interest, right,” Trump told the network. “That’s never happened either. We’re paying so low. Everybody wants to be in the dollar because we kept it strong. I kept it strong,” said Trump, who has formerly criticized a strong dollar.
The dollar DXY, +0.07% is up about 4% for the year to date.
The Fox Business interview on the “Mornings with Maria” program was recorded at the White House on Wednesday and aired Thursday morning.
