Trump tweets for World Bank to stop lending billions of dollars to China

China is too wealthy, he tweeted.

Belmont Lay | December 08, 2019, 06:38 AM

United States President Donald Trump has urged the World Bank to stop lending money to China a day after the institution adopted a cheap loan plan to Beijing despite Washington's objections.

Trump's admonishment came on Friday, Dec. 6, via Twitter:

"Why is the World Bank loaning money to China? Can this be possible? China has plenty of money, and if they don't, they create it. STOP!" Trump tweeted.

Billions in low-interest loans

The World Bank on Thursday adopted a plan to aid China with US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion in low-interest loans annually through June 2025.

The plan calls for lending to "gradually decline".

The previous five-year average was US$1.8 billion.

China is too "wealthy"

Reuters reported that the World Bank responded in a statement via email that lending to China is decreasing.

“World Bank lending to China has fallen sharply and will continue to reduce as part of our agreement with all our shareholders including the United States,” the World Bank said.

“We eliminate lending as countries get richer.”

Spokespeople for the White House declined to comment on the record, Reuters reported.

The World Bank loaned China US$1.3 billion in the fiscal 2019 year, which ended on June 30.

This is down from around US$2.4 billion in the fiscal 2017 year.

The Trump administration has argued that Beijing is too wealthy for international aid and the fall in the World Bank’s loans to China is not swift enough.