https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/08/trump-coronavirus-deaths-timeline.html
Interesting in this article Trump never wanted to close the border to China, or later on Europe either. It was recommended by the medical team long before Trump agreed to go through with it.
Trump had just made a trade deal with China - and the possible effects on the stock market were the reason that Trump conspired with Xi Jinping to downplay the risk.
On CNBC, Joe Kernen asked Trump whether there were any “worries about a pan demic.” “No, not at all,” the president replied. “We have it totally under control.” When Kernen asked whether the Chinese were telling the whole truth about the virus, Trump said they were. “I have a great relationship with President Xi,” he boasted. “We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made.”
The crisis in China grew. In late January, Trump’s medical advisers agreed with his national security team that he should suspend travel from China to the United States. But Trump resisted. He had spent months cultivating a relationship with Xi and securing the trade deal. He was counting on China to buy American goods and boost the U.S. economy, thereby helping him win reelection. He had said this to Xi explicitly, in a conversation witnessed by then–National Security Adviser John Bolton. Trump also worried that a travel ban would scare the stock market. But by the end of the month, airlines were halting flights to China anyway. On Jan. 31, Trump gave in.