Trump Weighing Options to Make China Pay 'Real Cost' for COVID-19 Spread, Pompeo Says

When asked whether Trump would retaliate against China now that the virus has made its way to the White House, Pompeo said, "Absolutely, and you’re starting to see this formulated.”

“There will be real costs imposed. President Trump is being presented options, ways to respond,” Pompeo said. “I don’t want to get out in front of the decisions he’ll make, but it is not only appropriate but necessary that a nation that made this kind of decision, that’s now cost over a million lives across the world and countless trillions of dollars in economic wealth for ordinary Americans and people of the middle class all across the world, there has to be a cost imposed.”

Relations between the United States and China have significantly deteriorated under the Trump administration following US accusations that Beijing engaged in unfair trade practices and made a poor effort to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Tensions between the two countries have also soared over China's activity in the South China Sea and the Arctic region, as well as its Belt and Road Initiative to gain an economic influence around the world.