Peter Navarro: China 'cornered' the personal protective equipment market and 'is profiteering' during coronavirus outbreak

White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said during an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures” that China "cornered" the personal protective equipment (PPE) market during the coronavirus outbreak and “is profiteering.”

Navarro, who is also the National Defense Production Act policy coordinator, made the comment on Sunday reacting to a recent Fox News report, which cited multiple sources, that there is increasing confidence that the COVID-19 outbreak likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China's attempt to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States.

Navarro, who was one of the first to warn about the novel coronavirus, noted “China did [several things] over the course of this thing,” which, he said, “led to the deaths of many people worldwide.”

“First of all, the virus was spawned in China. Second of all, they hid the virus behind the shield of the World Health Organization. The third thing they did was basically hoardpersonal protective equipment and now they’re profiteering from it,” Navarro told hostMaria Bartiromo, referencing the fact that many states have been dealing with a shortage of PPE for health care workers during the coronavirus crisis.

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