The source of the virus is a mystery. The broad scientific consensus is that the novel coronavirus originated in bats.
Fox News reported on Wednesday (local time) that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory as part of China's effort to demonstrate the capability of its efforts in identifying and combating viruses. Trump has said his government is seeking to determine whether the virus emanated from a laboratory in China.
"A lot of strange things are happening but there is a lot of investigation going on. And we're going to find out," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump also cast doubt on China's death toll, which was revised up on Friday. China said 1,300 people who died of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan - half the total - were not counted, but dismissed allegations of a cover-up.
The US president said on Friday that many more people must have died in China than in the United States, which is currently the centre of the global pandemic and has reported the largest number of deaths in the world linked to the virus.
"We don't have the most in the world deaths. The most in the world has to be China. It's a massive country. It's gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem - they must have the most," Trump told reporters.
Washington and Beijing have publicly sparred over the virus repeatedly. Trump initially praised China's response to the outbreak, but he and his top aides have also referred to it as the "Chinese virus."
Australians weigh in
Meanwhile, two former Australian foreign ministers have weighed in about China's knowledge of the origin of the coronavirus before it became a global pandemic.
Alexander Downer, who was foreign minister under the Howard government says China must come clean on Covid-19 or it will "arouse the wrath" of the world.
Mr Downer says there's still speculation on whether the virus jumped from bats to humans directly, in wet markets or escaped from scientific labs.
He told the Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce that the world will demand answers from China after the pandemic.
"For China this is a slow burn. So far China sending masks and testing kits, some of which apparently don't work to well, to other countries and saying, 'Oh look we're here to help you'," Mr Downer told a webinar on Friday.
"Come on guys, you started it in the first place, let's find out how that happened and let's do our best to make sure that can never happen again."
Mr Downer says if China isn't transparent, some countries will try to counter its global influence "which will be confrontational and prima facie not to be encouraged".
He said Chinese exporters could suffer as countries reviewed their supply chains for raw materials and essential products.
He also believes Australia and the UK in particular will mull their dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals and rare earth metals like lithium.
China is Australia's number one trading partner.
Julie Bishop. who was foreign minister under the Coalition Abbott and Turnbull governments, said Australia's relationship with China is "under constant review".
"I think we will see a different world when we pass through this pandemic," she told Sky News.
"I'm sure many nations will be looking to diversify and perhaps bring a greater domestic focus on supply chains."
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has also demanded China be more transparent about the origins of coronavirus.
Mr Dutton said the families of more than 60 Australians who have died from the disease deserve answers about how the outbreak originated.
Mr Downer called for China and World Health Organisation to lead a probe, but it must involve scientists from the international community, including the West.
"There has to be a proper investigation into how this happened, where it came from, and China will be, I think in time, be put under huge pressure to agree to that investigation," he said.
- additional reporting AAP
