Washington, May 15 (TIWN) US President Donald Trump has said that he "could cut off the whole relationship" with China, in one of his strongest comments against Beijing in the wake of the Asian giant's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the media reported.

 In an interview with Fox Business Network broadcast on Thursday, Trump said he was very disappointed with China's failure to contain the disease and that the pandemic had cast a pall over his January trade deal with Beijing, which he has previously hailed as a major achievement. 

"They should have never let this happen," Trump said. "So I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn't feel the same to me. The ink was barely dry and the plague came over. And it doesn't feel the same to me."  President Trump's pique extended to President Xi, with whom the U.S. president has said repeatedly he has a good relationship. 

"But I just - right now I don't want to speak to him," Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Wednesday.  Trump was asked about a Republican senator's suggestion that U.S. visas be denied to Chinese students applying to study in fields related to national security, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence.