Former President Donald Trump told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “shut the hell up” about China and COVID to avoid angering Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pompeo reportedly recounted in an upcoming book about his time in the Trump administration.
It was a shocking revelation about Trump, who usually takes the opportunity to criticize China.
But Trump was unhappy after Pompeo told leaders of the Group of Seven summit in March 2020 that China was to blame for COVID-19 and that the disease should be called the “Wuhan virus,” Pompeo said in his memoir, “Don’t Give An Inch,” due out next week. He believes that China is “repeatedly late” in sharing data and spreading disinformation about the disease, according to book excerpts obtained by Semafor.
Trump was apparently worried because Xi warned him in a phone call the next day that Pompeo’s attack jeopardized a “phase one” trade deal between China and the US, according to a Semafor book citation.
“Mike, that brat hates you!” Trump said about Xi, Pompeo told.
Trump is also reportedly concerned that the US is dependent on China for medical supplies. He accused Pompeo of “putting us all at risk” by antagonizing Xi, according to published quotes.
“Stop, for God’s sake!” Trump told Pompeo, according to an excerpt from the book.
Pompeo said he kept his mouth shut about China after that.
“We need medical equipment and it is at CCP [Chinese Communist Party’s] mercy,” Pompeo said in his book. “I work for the president, and I will bide my time.”
In fact, the US State Department sent 17.8 tons of donated coronavirus medical supplies to China in February 2020 when health experts and some American lawmakers have sought federal action to prepare the US for the growing pandemic. Large shipments to China include medical masks, gowns and respirators, which were in short supply in America at the end of March.
Trump spent months thanking Xi for the dictator’s transparency and cooperation during the pandemic. But he then shifted his focus to Xi and China for the disease — and quickly called COVID the “Wuhan virus,” the “Chinese virus” or the racist “Kung flu.”
The former president continues to oppose China as its power rises. He told media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post earlier this week that if he were to become president again, he would impose “aggressive new restrictions on China’s ownership of critical infrastructure in the United States.”