When President Donald Trump called COVID-19 the “China virus,” he was using a label he first deployed in a March 16, 2020 tweet after weeks of publicly praising Beijing’s response, and the phrase — along with variants like “Chinese virus,” “China plague,” and “kung flu” — became linked by researchers to a sharp rise in anti-Asian harassment, blew up a G7 joint statement, drew a defamation lawsuit, and helped prompt a federal hate-crimes law.
How the Phrase Started
Through January and February 2020, Trump repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s handling of the outbreak. On January 24 he tweeted that “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus” and that the United States “greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.” On February 7 he called Xi “strong, sharp and powerfully focused.”1Politico. Trump’s China Praise CNN later counted at least 37 separate instances of Trump praising China between January and early April 2020.2CNN. Trump China Praise Coronavirus Timeline
The pivot came in mid-March, as U.S. case counts climbed and the administration faced criticism over testing and supply shortages. Trump first tweeted the phrase “Chinese virus” on March 16, 2020.3UCLA Blueprint. Racism and COVID-19 Three days later, a photograph from a press briefing captured his handwritten notes with the word “Corona” crossed out and “Chinese” written in.4Washington Post. Trump Tweets Chinese Virus Racist Pressed on the terminology, he answered: “It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate.”5The Hill. Trump Sued by Civil Rights Group for Calling COVID-19 China Virus
What International Health Authorities Recommend
In May 2015 the World Health Organization issued best practices for naming new human infectious diseases, specifically advising against geographic labels, people’s names, animal species, and cultural references because such names risk “stigmatizing entire regions and ethnic groups.” That was the stated reason WHO chose the neutral name “COVID-19” when the novel coronavirus emerged.6WHO. WHO Issues Best Practices for Naming New Human Infectious Diseases7The Conversation. Today’s Disease Names Are Less Catchy but Also Less Likely to Cause Stigma The joint statement from four congressional caucus chairs on March 17, 2020 — Representatives Judy Chu, Joaquin Castro, Karen Bass, and Deb Haaland — called Trump’s phrasing “dangerous” and noted it ran against guidance from both the WHO and the CDC.8Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Democratic Leaders of Color: Trump’s Use of Chinese Virus Endangers Lives
The G7 Statement That Fell Apart
On March 25, 2020, G7 foreign ministers met by videoconference to coordinate a pandemic response. The U.S. State Department, holding the G7 presidency, circulated a 12-paragraph draft that referred to the outbreak as the “Wuhan virus” and blamed China for its spread. The other six members refused to sign. A European diplomat called the terminology a “red line.” The G7 ultimately released no joint statement, and member nations issued separate communiqués instead.9CNN. G7 Coronavirus Statement10Washington Post. G-7 Failed to Agree on Statement After U.S. Insisted on Calling Coronavirus Outbreak Wuhan Virus Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the draft, saying China bore “special responsibility” for failing to warn the world.11ABC News. Pompeo Pushes Wuhan Virus Label to Counter Chinese Disinformation
The Research Linking the Phrase to Anti-Asian Hostility
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in May 2021 analyzed 668,597 tweets containing roughly 1.3 million hashtags from the week before and the week after Trump’s March 16 tweet. About 50% of the more than 775,000 hashtags paired with #chinesevirus displayed anti-Asian sentiment, compared with roughly 20% of the nearly 500,000 hashtags associated with the neutral #covid19. The difference after Trump’s tweet was statistically significant (P < .001).[mfn]AJPH. Association of #covid19 Versus #chinesevirus With Anti-Asian Sentiments on Twitter[/mfn] Lead author Yulin Hswen of UCSF said the anti-Asian sentiment in those tweets “likely perpetuated racist attitudes and parallels the anti-Asian hate crimes that have occurred since.”12ABC News. Trump’s Chinese Virus Tweet Helped Lead Rise in Racist Anti-Asian Twitter Content
Off-platform numbers moved in the same direction. Stop AAPI Hate recorded 10,370 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders between March 19, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Nearly 63% involved verbal harassment and 16% involved physical assault. Women filed 62% of the reports, and Chinese Americans accounted for the largest share of victims at nearly 43%.13Stop AAPI Hate. National Report Through September 2021 FBI data showed reported anti-Asian hate crimes nearly quintupling from 158 in 2019 to 746 in 2021 before declining to 499 in 2022.14Pew Research Center. Asian Americans and Discrimination During the COVID-19 Pandemic A separate academic study found that anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City increased by 3,200% between 2019 and 2020, even as overall hate crime fell in three of the four cities analyzed. The FBI had already issued an intelligence report in March 2020 warning that hate crimes against Asian Americans were likely to rise.15PMC. Anti-Asian Hate Crime During COVID-19
Public opinion split along partisan lines. A 2020 Berkeley IGS Poll of 8,800 registered California voters found 61% of Trump supporters said it was appropriate for the president to use phrases like “Chinese virus,” compared with 3.5% of Trump opponents.16UC Berkeley News. Most Californians Blame China for COVID-19 but Reject Racialized Labels Nationally, Pew found in a June–July 2020 survey that 78% of Americans placed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of blame on China’s initial handling of the outbreak, with 73% holding an unfavorable view of China, a 26-point jump since 2018.17Pew Research Center. Americans Fault China for Its Role in the Spread of COVID-19
The Atlanta Shootings and the Federal Response
The pressure reached a crisis point on March 16, 2021, when a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas. Six of the victims were Asian women. The attack catalyzed the “Stop Asian Hate” movement, though the case itself drew debate over whether to pursue hate-crime charges, a designation that requires prosecutors to prove discriminatory motive beyond a reasonable doubt.18Columbia JLSP. Spike in Anti-Asian Violence Prompts Debate on Value of Hate Crime Legislation
On May 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Sponsored by Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Grace Meng, the law directs the Department of Justice to appoint a point person for expedited review of COVID-19-related hate crimes, requires online reporting systems in multiple languages, authorizes grants for state and local law enforcement, and calls for public education campaigns to reduce racially inflammatory language about the pandemic. It passed the Senate 94–1, with Senator Josh Hawley casting the lone dissenting vote, and the House 364–62, with every opposing vote cast by a Republican.19NPR. Biden to Sign the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Bill20ABC News. Biden Sign Anti-Asian Hate Crime Bill Into Law Biden called the law a response to “the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation.”
The EEOC separately approved a resolution condemning violence, harassment, and bias against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The agency processed 3,631 charges alleging COVID-19-related workplace discrimination and conducted more than 300 outreach events reaching nearly 40,000 people.21EEOC. 2021 Annual Performance Report
The Defamation Lawsuit Against Trump
In May 2021 the Chinese Americans Civil Rights Coalition sued Trump in the Southern District of New York, arguing that his repeated use of “Chinese virus,” “China plague,” and “kung flu” amounted to defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The coalition asked for $22.9 million in damages, calculated at one dollar for every Asian American and Pacific Islander in the United States, to fund a museum of AAPI history.5The Hill. Trump Sued by Civil Rights Group for Calling COVID-19 China Virus
The court dismissed the case on May 5, 2022. Because Trump had been sued in his official capacity, he was protected by sovereign immunity. The court rejected the group libel claim, finding the rhetoric referred to the geographic origin of the virus rather than the personal responsibility of individual Asian Americans. On the emotional distress claim, the court held that even speech considered “extreme and outrageous” about a matter of public concern is protected by the First Amendment.22First Amendment Watch. Former President Trump Sued for Defamation Over Calling COVID-19 the Chinese Virus
Where Things Stand Now
Trump has kept the phrase. At an October 2024 Las Vegas rally aimed at AAPI voters, he told the crowd: “You know, President Xi of China … he’s a friend of mine. I thought we were actually very close. But frankly, Covid, or as I call it, ‘the China virus,’ was a step too far.”23NBC News. Trump Asian American Rally Vegas
After returning to office, Trump signed an executive order on May 5, 2025 titled “Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research.” It bans federal funding for gain-of-function research conducted by foreign entities in “countries of concern,” naming China specifically, and imposes new compliance requirements on grant recipients, with violations carrying potential loss of funding and up to five years of ineligibility for future federal life-sciences grants.24White House. Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research The order followed the January 2025 debarment of EcoHealth Alliance and its former president, Peter Daszak, from federal funding for five years, which came out of a congressional investigation into U.S.-funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.25House Oversight Committee. Comer Applauds President Trump’s Executive Order Banning Dangerous Taxpayer-Funded Gain-of-Function Research