Trump poured scorn on Europe's handling of the coronavirus. Now he is presiding over the worst outbreak in the world.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

• Announcing a European travel ban in an Oval Office speech on March 11, President Trump was scathing about the European response to the coronavirus crisis. 
• "The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots," said Trump. 
• On Thursday, the US overtook China and Italy as the country with most cases of the illness, with 85,500 positive tests. 
• Trump has been criticised for not doing enough to slow the disease's spread in the early days of the outbreak. 
• Experts say that his plan to lift lockdown measures by Easter could make the crisis worse. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the novel coronavirus swept through Europe in early March, President Donald Trump seized the opportunity to criticize the response of the European Union and boast of the success of the policies he had put in place. 

"The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots," Trump said as he announced a ban on Europeans traveling to the US in a televised address from the Oval Office.

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