Rep. Jim Banks thinks China needs to pay the United States for the spread of the coronavirus.
The Indiana Republican told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Monday night that the U.S. needs to hold China accountable for the crisis the coronavirus has caused stateside, which could including making the communist country forgive a chunk of America’s debt.
Carlson said during the segment: “The coronavirus is a Chinese virus, no matter what they are telling you. It originated in China and was able to spread to the rest of the world because the Chinese government hid the truth of what was happening early in the outbreak from the rest of the world. They lied about it, and that caused the terrible consequences we are watching now. You can blame China for that.”
Banks responded that holding the country responsible should be in a financial manner.
“We need to start by forcing China to pay the burden and the cost incurred on the United States of America due to the coronavirus. I think there are many ways that we can do that,” Banks said.
“The president could force China to relieve a great amount of American debt,” he continued. “He could institute tariffs on China and designate the funds from that into a coronavirus victim relief fund to pay the cost incurred on Americans and American taxpayers due to the negligence on China’s behalf that’s led to the crisis in America today.”
The congressman added that President Trump might be open to his plan on holding China accountable.
“I have no doubt that President Trump will do everything he can to hold China accountable for what they have caused on Americans today,” he said.
The COVID-19 virus first broke out in Wuhan, China, last year and has since spread to every continent except Antarctica. In the early days of the outbreak, the country punished a whistleblower who tried to warn the world about the illness and later died from it himself.
