Trump says close to plan to reopen economy
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is close to completing a plan to end the coronavirus shutdown and reopen the battered US economy with some parts of the country likely to be ready to go before May 1. Standing in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said he would “authorize” governors - despite doubts from some experts that the presidency has such powers - to implement plans in their states at the appropriate time. He said he would speak to all 50 governors about the plan, probably on Thursday by video conference.
Trump’s coronavirus task force has recommended people across the country follow strict social distancing guidelines through the end of April. Opening some states before that would go against the guidelines in their current form. Trump, facing re-election on Nov. 3 and under pressure to get the economy going again after millions have been made jobless by the shutdown, said some states should be able to reopen soon, based on a low rate of infections.
“We think that some of the governors will be in really good shape to open up even sooner” than the end of April, Trump said. “Others are going to have to take a longer period of time.”
Trump had initially said he hoped to reopen the economy by Easter in mid-April, but the mounting toll of infections and projected deaths forced him to extend federal guidelines for 30 days to the end of April. Some medical experts question whether the country will be ready by then.
The president drew fire from governors for saying on Monday at a contentious briefing that he has “total authority” to order them to reopen. Constitutional experts have doubted he has such authority but Trump has not backed down. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would not follow orders from Trump to reopen his state if it would endanger New Yorkers, arguing any such move would create a constitutional challenge that pits states against the federal government.
“And the worst possible thing he could do at this moment - to act dictatorial and to act in a partisan, divisive way,” Cuomo said, referring to the president’s reelection bid. “Keep the politics out of it.”
Trump said he would not press states to re-open, and indicated each state would have its own individual date for starting the process. “If we’re unhappy with a state, we’re going to let them know we’re unhappy,” Trump said, adding that he would take action if health data changed. If numbers went in the wrong direction, he said, “We’ll have to do something that’s ... very serious. We’ll have to maybe close ‘em up and start all over again. But I don’t think we’re going to have to do that.” —Reuters