‘Getting along well’ with China

President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the importance of aggressive actions linked to Beijing including recent arrests of two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States, saying "that's the way the world works."

Trump told Fox News that Washington behaves in a similar way. "You don't think we do that to them? We do, we do a lot of things," he said on the "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" show.

"That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world."

Trump was responding to a question about how he viewed Chinese intellectual property theft, hacking of the US telecoms system and controversy around the Covid-19 pandemic.

He likewise dismissed concerns over a case in which two Chinese nationals were accused last month of smuggling in a toxic fungus.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud.

The US Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle into the United States a fungus called Fusarium graminearum that causes "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice.