- The U.S. traditionally sets a model for other countries during global crises and uses its resources to assist them, but that has not been the case during the coronavirus pandemic under President Donald Trump.
- Not only is the U.S. struggling to contain its own outbreak, but close allies like the U.K. and South Korea that traditionally look to the U.S. for help are fighting the pandemic on their own.
- “Trump’s ineptitude is exposed, but more than that, the U.S. is not there to help others. We are not a global power in this pandemic, and people will remember that,” Cynthia Schneider, who was the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands from 1998 to 2001, told Insider.
- Governors in the U.S. have had to handle acquiring crucial medical supplies on their own. After Trump rejected New York’s request for more ventilators, the state received 1,000 ventilators from China – a massive influx of critical aid that’s more typical of the U.S. response to disasters.
- “The lack of a global health defense network that could have been empowered by American medical expertise meant that the virus blossomed wherever underpreparation and slow-footedness prevailed,” said Jack Chow, who was a U.S. ambassador for global HIV/AIDS during the George W. Bush administration….
To read the entire article from Business Insider Singapore, click https://www.businessinsider.sg/trump-chaotic-coronavirus-response-has-created-void-china-is-filling-2020-4