Certain Safety Measures were taken. But of course the most prominent doctor in the country these days told us to slow down. Dr. Anthony fauci told a senate panel this week that if we move too quickly towards getting back to normal, we could create even greater danger. If that occurs, there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control. Gerry dr. Fauci even suggested reopening schools and colleges this fall may be too soon. Apparently hes condemning millions of student ands their parents to many more months of sitting in front of computers and supervising them. Can we really take this for much longer . Already we saw that last months retail sales and factory output fell by the most ever. If the lockdown persists, we may save lives, for sure, but in the process destroy the economy with even greater damage to Americans Health in the long run are. Dr. Faucis offering a scientific but not a rounded economic view of things. You cant save the health of theville aages by vis rating their economy. So far states are steadily, carefully reopening and are not seeing a new surge in covid19 cases. An axios study found that florida and georgia actually saw a decrease in cases. Now, it is very early days yet, and we may yet see a resurgence. But the idea we must stay in a state of economic and social paralysis does seem to defy common sense. Meanwhile, chinas role in the pandemic came under greater scrutiny. Secretary of state mike pompeo was among those asking hard questions about how the virus began and why the chinese took so long to warn the world of the outbreak. One of the harshest critics is arkansas senator tom cotton who told the wall street journal that china should be treated now as a pariah state. This comes just a few months after the president signed a trade agreement with beijing, something the president referenced in a tweet on wednesday, writing we just made a great trade deal. The ink was barely dry, and the world was hit by the plague from china. All those innocent lives lost. And later on mornings with maria on this network, the president expressed even more displeasure with chinas handling of the outbreak and raised questions about the phase one agreement. Theyd like to renegotiate the deal. Were not going to renegotiate. Look, im not happy about anything having to do with that particular subject right now. Maria have you spoken to xi jinping . I have a very good relationship, but i just right now i dont want to speak to him. Gerry so will the Administration Stay the course with china, or has the coronavirus changed the equation . Joining me is someone whos been intimately involved in all of these discussions, the white house trade aid visor, Peter Navarro. Thank you for joining us. Good to be with you, gerry. Gerry chinas role in the spread of the coronavirus, we know, obviously, thats where it started. Do you think that china deliberately allowed the virus to spread initially through china and then around the world so that china would not be alone or the most affected by it . I think, gerry, thats its useful for people watching this show to just understand the brief history of this. Patient zero in china, in wuhan was in november. Virus likely came from a p4 weapons lab. In december, in january china hid the virus behind the shield of the world health organization, and that was a time, gerry, when that virus could have been contained in wuhan. Instead what china did was put hundreds of thousands of wuhanians and chinese on planes that were allowed to go to milan and new york and elsewhere but not to beijing and shanghai. And then during that time, this two months, incredibly china, as the biggest exporter of ppe to the world prior to the china virus, suddenly became the largest importer. They went around the world and vacuumed up over two billion n95 masks, for example. Thats according to their own customs data. Now theyre profiteering from that virus. And heres the thing that should disturb everybody on the planet. We signed a trade deal on january 15th with china that was supposed to protect American Intellectual property from chinese theft, and we now have credible information that china, the Chinese Government is hacking our scientists in order to get our Vaccine Information so that they can then dominate the world selling that vaccine, making money from it and using it as an element of coercion and soft power. Thats [laughter] that is about as damning an indictment of the peoples republic of communist china, and its all factbased. Its all factbased. And the problem i have in this country right now is for some reason thats become a partisan issue. Somehow that if you dont blame china, right, you can blame donald trump for whatevers happening. So thats [laughter] thats the big subtext behind your question about china. So, you know, the next question, of course, is whats next, and thats above my pay grade. Certainly, we can talk more about it. Gerry let me be absolutely clear about that, it does sound that you do think china quite deliberately allowed international travel, quite deliberately knew how serious this was and allowed the virus to be exported along with a lot of other chinese exports to the United States and elsewhere. Thats a matter of fact. It should not be in dispute. History will show that is a matter of fact. We know the only question in dispute now is did it come from the p4 lab, and was that virus genetically engineered to be a weaponizedded virus. Now, on the weaponized virus issue, thats obviously a volatile discussion to have. But what i can tell you is the reason this virus became so dangerous is because at least asymptomatic spread, meaning that people without symptoms can actually spread the virus. Thats highly unusual. So i think put that aside, put that aside. Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt, all of these other facts in evidence that they hid the virus from the world, they hid humantohuman transmission behind the shield of the world health organization, they vacuumed up the worlds ppe to protect their own people at the expense of doctors and nurses in milan and new york and beyond and that theyre trying to steal our vaccines right now even as theyre charging 3, 4, 5 and 7 for an n95 mask. Gerry, that is [inaudible conversations] that is fact. Gerry yeah, exactly what we do about it, its above my pay grade. Gerry we need the take a quick commercial break, but coming up next, i want to discuss more about china, what we need to do about it and what specific proposals the administration might be prepared to take. Stay with us. Looks like they picked the wrong getaway driver. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. 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Show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. Our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. How were helping restaurants open popup markets. And encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. A special time when we count every person in each home in every neighborhood. Rosita do kids count . The count of course counting everyone in your home helps support your neighborhood by funding things like schools, hospitals, and buses. Complete the census by calling or going online. Or return your form by mail. Rosa its easy, secure, and most important, its totally private. All make your family count announcer this year, make sure every child counts. Visit 2020census. Gov gerry president trumps trade adviser, Peter Navarro, is my guest. Peter, what to do about china. Let me ask you, first of all, tom cotton, the republican senator from arkansas, has come up with a bill which would take some really pretty tough measures against china. Many of them would be military, we dont have to get into those details, but a lot of them economic too. He wants to find ways to encourage u. S. Companies through tax incentives and others to withdraw from china. The japanese have done that, by the way, with a lot of their companies. Is that something that you think we should be doing, finding giving Companies Financial incentives to withdraw operations from china and bring them back to the u. S. Or send them elsewhere . Gerry, i come at it from kind of the other end of the telescope in this sense. If youre simply looking at this china virus crisis right now, i think one of the biggest lessons is that we have to bring our supply chains and production home for medicines as well as our equipment like ventilators and supplies like masks. We just is have to do that. Theres an imperative to do that. Now, is china the only problem . No. Is it the biggest problem . Yes. But its not the only problem. Right now over 75 countries, gerry, have imposed some form of export restrictions on the United States and other countries, and what we learn in this crisis and also back with h1n1 is that there are no allies or partners in a pandemic, there are only nations. And what am i saying here . Im saying one of the Big Solutions is to bring our supply chains and production home through things like buy american, through things like deregulation which will make it easier for us to locate manufacturing here. Gerry does that mean there shouldnt be any medical supply, essentially, for americans coming out of china completely . Want to see all american companies, any companies that import ppe or drugs or whatever, you want that to stop . Well, i know for the record i believe it was in the propaganda rag the global times that china has already threatened to bury us in a sea of coronavirus for having the temerity to raise the question of their culpability in all this. Thats finish. [laughter] i mean, thats, thats pretty harsh words from china. I think, again, what this president , donald j. Trump, the greatest president in modern history, he built an economy that was the strongest. He did it in three years. China destroyed that in 60 days. He will rebuild it. But i think we really do have to reevaluate our supply chains and production. And i think, and this is a bigger question, gerry, but i think its an important one, i think the kind of structural changes that are going to come about because of how this society and culture deals with a pandemic is going to require us to move away from Service Sector job reliance into making things, manufacturing. Move from service to manufacturing. That means locating production here when its through tax breaks, whether its through tariffs, whether its through buy american provisions like we want to do for pharmaceuticals, for our government agencies. Theres a lot of different ways, and we have to come at it through multiple vectors of attack. But ultimately, we want our jobs ands our supply chains here. Gerry let me ask you another question about another thing we can do about china proposed by some members of congress. What about taiwan . Taiwan has, i think, behaved in a, i think people would agree, a much more exemplary fashion over this. Taiwan has been much more transparent, a lot of the stuff we learned about coronavirus we learned as a result of some of the things they did in taiwan. Should we be encouraging taiwan now, perhaps, you know, this talk of military assistance, Taiwan SemiconductorCompanies Just announcing its opening a big factory in arizona. Should we be looking to encourage taiwan versus china . Look, you see my office is right across the street, and this is my lane, all right . Thats way outside my lane. Taiwan is, obviously, a much bigger discussion. One of the things i do think we need to think about though is the notion of compensatory damagings. If this were simply a legal case where you brought a case against china and said how much would you owe the American People for your, your culpability in this matter, it would youd start with the 10 trillion, close to 10 trillion that weve already got to put out there for fiscal and monetary policy. Youd look at all the damages directly to our economy, youd look at the more than 70,000 american lives lost and value those appropriately although theres no value you can really put on a life thats accurate gerry do you think china should be thats trillions of yeah, i think we should make them pay. I think there needs to be a national discussion. It has to be bipartisan. Has to be bipartisan about compensatory damages by a country that inflicted this pandemic on the world gerry how would you, how would you enforce it . Again, thats above my pay grade. What youre asking me, important questions, and im simply suggesting to you that this crisis and chinas role in virtually manufacturing this whole crisis, we need to have a national discussion. You know, gerry, before this crisis hit, pew research did a poll and showed that already over i think it was 80 of americans see china as a threat. They see the military, the trade deficit, the loss of factories and jobs, the environmental impacts of china, this poll was off the charts. I cant even imagine what a poll taken today would show, and i think that whats missing here in action is the democratic side of the fence. I mean, i hear all the time on capitol hill, e hear all the time on the leftwing media, cnn, msnbc, they dont want to blame china. They think if they blame china, they cant blame donald j. Trump, and thats wrong. Gerri weve got to take one more quick break and well talk more about china and, more broadly, about how the u. S. Should be responding to the coronavirus outbreak. Coronavirus outbreak. Stay with u u u u u the new house is amazing. So much character. Original crown molding, walk in closets. We do have a ratt problem. Round and round with love well find a way, just give it time. At least geico makes bundling our home and Car Insurance easy. It does help us save. Round and round with love well find a way, just give it time. Round and round what comes around, goes around. For bundling made easy, go to geico. Com gerry white house trade adviser Peter Navarro is with me. Peter, one more quick question on china, weve talked a lot about that. There are more measures in place, the Administration Just announced another measure against huawei. You want to stop companies, essentially, from doing further efforts to stop companies doing business that might if work with huawei. Are you basically, is the administration going to go beyond that in term it is of huawei, and is this in any way, is this tied to this issue of the coronavirus, or is this about concerns about huawei and its general role in the Global Economy . This has nothing to do with the coronavirus, this is all about huawei. This is an ongoing effort from president donald j. Trump that started at the very beginning of this administration based on the simple set of facts with huawei. Its an arm of the chinese military, its software can put viruses into systems around the world and compromise those systems. Its hardware can do the very same, and the idea of having our communications system, particularly 5g which is our future economically in the hands of the Chinese Communist party and the Peoples Liberation army is absurd. So this president , donald j. Trump, is taking every possible step to make sure that the world is safe from huawei, and todays announcements were part of that. Gerry peter, very quickly, a very quick question. Yesterday with, as you know, rick bright, the vaccine specialist from hhs on thursday testified, he presented you rather as the hero of the story. He said that nothing was done in terms of preparing for the coronavirus at hhs or anywhere else until you intervened and got it e done. And, you know, youve insisted there should be more ppe, vaccines, and yet still we didnt actually seem to move quickly even after you got involved. Is it fair, do you think, that is it right that actually despite all the warnings that we had, people like rick bright and others making them, the u. S. Didnt do enough early enough to prepare for the pandemic . Thats so counterfactual. Let me start with dr. Bright. Hes an american tragedy, as far as im concerned. People have called him a disgruntled employee. I go further. He basically is a deserter in the war on the china virus. And those are harsh words, but let me explain. He was given a mission to go over to nih as the field general, to storm that hill of testing with a billion dollars behind him. He refused to accept that mission, and instead he sat in his own foxhole, created this phony complaint and basically is now taking himself off the field when we would need talents of people like him. Heres the other thing gerry very quickly, with we are out of time. From january 30th, as soon as the president took down those flights from china and everything that we did over here, the Trump White House i report directly to the president , we were doing things on vaccine development, therapeutics, masks, everything we did in february has borne fruit today in may. Gerry peter, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us, and im sure we look forward to speaking to you again. Just ahead, the risk to our democracy if judges start to become prosecutors. Stay with us. Adversity came to town and said, show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. Our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. How were helping restaurants open popup markets. And encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. Secretary of the department of veterans affairs. 155 years ago president lincoln called upon us to care for americas veterans. Today you can help answer that call. We are looking for physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals to help protect veterans from the coronavirus. Go to va. Gov joinus or text vaphysician or vanurse to 97211. Gerry this might have been the week when general Michael Flynn was with finally able to resume his life. Last week the Justice Department asked a judge to dismiss charges against president trumps former National Security adviser of lying to investigators about a phone call that hed had with the Russian Ambassador shortly before the president took office. But this week that judge, emmet sullivan, pointedly declined and instead inseated a retire invited a retired judge to come up with ways the general may still be found guilty. This is somewhat bizarre. We are in the situation now where both the prosecution and the defense in the case want the charges to be dismissed while the judge shops around asking third parties to come up with something uncriminating. A federal Prosecutorial Authority is an enormously powerful weapon. It has almost unlimited resources to go off target, and in some respects its in frightening ways. Judges are there, of course, to preside over a fair criminal process to insure that justice is done, paying special attention to the right of the defendant over a potentially mighty government. If judges become prosecutors too, respect we at risk of undermining the rule of law . Thats it for us this week. Be sure to follow me on twitter, facebook and instagram, and ill be back next week right here on wal at large. Thank you very much for joining us. Barrons roundtable sponsored by jack welcome to barrons roundtable where we prepare you for the week ahead. Im jack otter. We begin with what we think are the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. Congress at odds over providing more stimulus to the economy. Where the market is headed next. The u. S. Is on track to roll out 5g networks. Which companies will be the winners, and how do increasing tensions with china change the game . And the covid19 crisis is dramatically changing the entertainment industry. The future of concerts, sports, broadway and movies. On theware