London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Donald Trump drops ‘Chinese virus’ terminology in White House briefing, calls for protecting Asian-Americans

‘They’re amazing people and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way shape or form. They’re working closely with us to get rid of it’. President’s remarks suggest he has moved away from blaming China for the pandemic

US President Donald Trump on Monday dropped his use of the term “Chinese virus” for the coronavirus that has been spreading worldwide and called for the protection of Asian-Americans.

“It’s very important that we totally protect our Asian-American community in the United States and all around the world,” Trump said at a White House briefing.

“They’re amazing people and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way shape or form,” he said. “They’re working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It’s very important.”


Asked in the briefing why he stopped using the term, Trump cited a rise in “nasty language” being used against Asian Americans and seemed to suggest that blaming China for the pandemic that has caused more that 16,000 deaths globally is wrong.

“It seems that there could be really nasty language toward the Asian-Americans in our country and I don't like that at all,” the US leader said.

“These are incredible people they love our country and I'm not gonna let it happen so I just wanted to make that point, because they're blaming China, people are blaming China, and they are making statements to great American citizens that happen to be of Asian heritage, and I'm not going to let that happen,” he said.

The shift in tone was abrupt, and characterised what was the least combative briefing Trump has had with the media since he began leading them earlier this month.

Just three days ago, for example, Trump said: “The world is paying a very big price for what [China] did ... If people would have known about it … it could have been stopped right where it came from: China.”

Trump’s new tone came after a week of his and several senior officials’ insistence on prefacing the disease with “Chinese”, leading to widespread condemnation from both within the US – including lawmakers, Asian-American advocacy groups and the wider public – and abroad.

Earlier on Monday, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on racism singled out Trump for his “calculated use” of geographic-based nomenclature, arguing that such language was “rooted in, and fosters, racism and xenophobia”.

In a strongly worded statement, E. Tendayi Achiume said the language served “to isolate and stigmatise individuals who are or are perceived to be of Chinese or other East Asian descent”.

Many Asian-American community leaders have spoken out in the past week, fearing violence against them was on the rise.

“It’s absolutely grotesque the way [Trump has] been portraying it as a ‘Chinese virus’ on the national and global stage,” said Ron Kim, a New York state assembly member representing a Queens district who on February 7 established the Asian American Health Advisory Council to help educate New Yorkers about the virus.

“It has an intangible impact not just on China but all Asian-Americans,” Kim said. “We’ve seen trauma and violence in schools, subways, random sidewalk incidents.”

Despite dialing down language many found divisive, Trump continued to draw the ire of some who criticised him for characterising Asian-Americans as being different from the rest of US society.

“When you say ‘they are working closely with us,’ you're saying we're not like everyone else,’” Chris Lu, who served as Barack Obama’s White House cabinet secretary, said in a Tweet that he closed with “#racist”

Trump’s remarks came on the same day that the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 33,453 coronavirus cases, more than double the previous count announced on Friday, while the death toll rose by a similar margin to 400.

The CDC’s previous tally was 15,268 confirmed cases and 201 deaths, and the numbers have increased from 432 and 19, respectively, just two weeks ago. The figures are current as of 4pm ET on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the latest figures from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Centre, which are updated more frequently and draw on additional sources at the state level, had the number of US cases at 41,047 as of midday on Monday.
The federal government has declared the US states of New York, California and Washington to be national disaster areas to help bring aid to them faster.

The New York City area is suffering particularly hard, with an attack rate, close to one in every 1,000 people, Deborah Birx, the deputy to Vice-President Mike Pence in the White House Covid-19 task force, said in Monday’s briefing.

“This is 5 times what the other areas are seeing there, and through the high-throughput lab investigations we're finding that 28 per cent of the submitted specimens are positive from that area, where it's less than 8 per cent in the rest of the country,” Birx added.

Still, Trump asserted that the stay-at-home orders that about one-third of Americans are subject to may last for a period of weeks instead of months.

Asked whether these orders would be a matter or weeks or months, Trump said: “I'm not looking at months, I can tell you right now, we're going to be opening up our country.”

“With a country, especially the number one economy anywhere in the world, by far, the number one economy in the world can't do that because well, it causes bigger problems than the original,” he said. “We can't have the cure be worse than the problem.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
×