US Republican senators proposed legislation Tuesday that would empower President Donald Trump to slap sanctions on China if Beijing does not give a "full accounting" for the coronavirus outbreak.

"The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for the detrimental role they played in this pandemic," said Senator Jim Inhofe, one of the sponsors of the "COVID-19 Accountability Act."

"Their outright deception of the origin and spread of the virus cost the world valuable time and lives as it began to spread," he said in a statement.

The legislation will give Trump 60 days to certify to Congress that China has provided a full accounting on the COVID-19 outbreak to an investigation that could be led by the United States and its allies, or a United Nations body like the World Health Organization.

Trump must also certify that China has closed its highest-risk wet markets and released Hong Kong activists arrested in post-COVID-19 crackdowns.

Without certification, Trump would be authorized under the legislation to impose sanctions like asset freezes, travel bans and visa revocations, as well as restricting Chinese businesses' access to US bank financing and capital markets.

"China refuses to allow the international community to go into the Wuhan lab to investigate," said Senator Lindsey Graham, another sponsor of the bill.

"They refuse to allow investigators to study how this outbreak started. I'm convinced China will never cooperate with a serious investigation unless they are made to do so."

China exempts more US goods from tariffs as virus hits economy
Beijing (AFP) May 12, 2020 - China on Tuesday released a list of 79 items from the United States that will be exempted from trade war tariffs, a day after the US ruled out renegotiating their earlier trade deal.

The list of goods, posted online by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, includes medical disinfectant, rare-earth metal ores, and some silicon wafers used in the electronics industry.

They will be exempted from retaliatory tariffs for a year from May 19, and tariffs that have been levied can be returned, the council said.

It did not say how much of these products were imported by China last year.

China had earlier announced one-year exemptions beginning on February 28 involving 65 products from the United States, including aircraft parts and medical equipment.

The moves come as China grapples with supply-chain disruptions and other economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused already fraught tensions with the United States to spike.

The two sides have traded accusations over the coronavirus response, raising questions over the fate of a partial trade deal inked in January that had marked a truce in their bruising economic war.

US President Donald Trump on Monday ruled out renegotiating that deal, when asked about reports that China was looking to reopen talks.

Under the deal, the Trump administration agreed to postpone any further tariff increases, while China promised a $200-billion increase over two years in its purchases of US products compared to the 2017 levels.

Last Friday, Vice Premier Liu He, who had led China's negotiations, spoke by phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and confirmed that both sides agreed to implementing the first phase of the deal.

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Trump rules out renegotiating China trade deal
Washington (AFP) May 11, 2020
US President Donald Trump on Monday ruled out renegotiating the trade agreement signed with China. "I'm not interested in that," Trump told reporters when asked about reports that China was looking to reopen talks about the trade deal signed in January. "Not even a little bit," Trump said. "Let's see if they live up to the deal that they signed." Washington and Beijing reached a partial trade deal in January. As recently as Friday Vice Premier Liu He, who had led China's negotiations, sp ... read more