President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus," arguing that he's countering Chinese propaganda that it originated in the United States.
ABC News reporter Cecilia Vega asked Trump during a press conference why he continues to call the coronavirus the "Chinese virus," saying many people allege the term is "racist" against Chinese Americans.
"I have great love for all of the people from our country, but as you know China tried to say at one point—maybe they stopped now—that it was caused by American soldiers," Trump said. "That can't happen. It's not gonna happen, not as long as I'm president. It comes from China."
He said it's geographically accurate to call it Chinese, and that's not a comment on race.
"It is not racist at all," Trump said. "It comes from China. I want to be accurate."
Democrats and members of the mainstream media have also expressed outrage over Trump calling the coronavirus a "foreign" virus, despite it originating in Wuhan, China. Referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus" has also received scrutiny from the media, but CNN and MSNBC used "Wuhan" in their labeling of the coronavirus several times on their networks.