Trump banned funding for dangerous viral research abroad.
According to a White House official, the new order strengthens control over such projects and formulates a strategy for the safe conduct of biomedical research. Washington noted that this concerns developments in China, Iran, and other countries that could lead to new pandemics.
This is very important. If this order had been signed earlier, it could have been the case that we wouldn’t have had the COVID pandemic,
— Trump stated.
As explained by the White House, the order "will sharply reduce the likelihood of incidents in laboratories, as was the case with the research of bat coronaviruses conducted in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology."