“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hard-working Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s surprising announcement stood in stark contrast with recommendations from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, who had said in a speech hours earlier that more economic stimulus was needed to sustain the recovery.
Trump’s tweets sent the stock market lower, as many businesses, households and investors had been hoping for a sudden jolt of fiscal stimulus amid signs the economy had lost momentum. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 376 points, or 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also fell.
Trump is also still dealing with his recent coronavirus diagnosis, but he has tried to dismiss the illness’s impact on him in the past two days.
Barring another unexpected development, Trump’s declaration kills any near-term chance of new aid for millions of Americans who remain out work and at risk of eviction. Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke shortly after Trump’s tweets and Mnuchin informed Pelosi that the negotiations were indeed over, according to Pelosi’s spokesman.
Trump said he instead had asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “not to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett.”
McConnell, who spoke with Trump shortly before the president’s announcement, said he agreed with the decision.
“I think his view was that they were not gonna produce a result and we needed to concentrate on what’s achievable,” the majority leader told reporters at the Capitol.
Trump’s pronouncement was so unexpected, coming after days of sustained if long-shot negotiations between Pelosi and Mnuchin. Pelosi later speculated to Democratic colleagues on a conference call that the president’s sudden change in position might be connected to the steroids he’s taking as he battles coronavirus.
“Believe me, there are people who thought, who think that steroids have an impact on your thinking,” she told her Democratic colleagues, according to someone on the call. “So, I don’t know.”
The White House’s focus now appears to have shifted from the economic talks to solely pushing for the Supreme Court confirmation. Even though several Republican senators have tested positive for covid-19, McConnell is moving forward swiftly with Barrett’s nomination to get her confirmed before the election.
Still, Trump’s move disappointed some members of his own party who were hoping to be able to deliver new relief to their constituents.
“I disagree with the President,” Rep. John Katko, a Republican congressman from New York in a tough re-election race, wrote on Twitter. “With lives at stake, we cannot afford to stop negotiations on a relief package.”
The U.S. economy is facing new headwinds. It contracted sharply earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to massive layoffs and business closures.
The economy showed some signs of partial recovery in May and June but businesses and households have continued to struggle as the virus continues to infect thousands of Americans each day. Trump has sought to play up the economy’s recovery, often touting partial or incomplete information. That continued on Tuesday when he misstated the health of the U.S. economy during his string of tweets.
He wrote that “Our economy is doing very well. The stock market is at record levels. JOBS and unemployment…also coming back in record numbers.”
Even some of Trump’s top advisers have said the economy is not doing very well and that more assistance is needed. Further, the stock market is not at record levels, and it also doesn’t reflect the broader health of the economy. The unemployment rate has come down from its April peak of around 15 percent, but it is still at 7.9 percent and millions of…
Read More: Trump says stimulus relief negotiations over until after election