Trump announces gradual US reopening against dire economic backdrop
US President Donald Trump speaks from the White House
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the gradual reopening of a US economy battered by the brutal side effects of an unprecedented effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
"Based on the latest data, our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war," Trump told a news conference. "We're opening up our country."
His announcement came hours after new data showed job losses from the pandemic fallout in the world's number one economy had reached 22 million in the past month.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams warned it will probably take "a year or two," if not longer, for the US economy to recover its strength, as other figures showed dire damage to the home building market and manufacturing.
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Trump had been campaigning for reelection in November largely on record low unemployment and a surge in US output.
So for the Republican, the battle to stop the coronavirus and lift social distancing and the paralysis of entire industries is also a race against the political clock.
However, the recommendations issued from the White House, in conjunction with medical advisors, were a far cry from Trump's previous hopes for a sudden, widespread end to social distancing measures.
Instead Trump described a cautious approach in which state governors, not the White House, will take the lead -- also a retreat for Trump who had insisted he could dictate the pace of reopening.
"Our approach will outline three phasesin restoring our economic life," he said. "We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time, and some states, they will be able to open up sooner than others."
Some states, Trump said, are already free from the impact of the coronavirus and therefore can open "literally tomorrow."
If state governors "need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. If they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do," he said.