Trump declares the United States will 'soon be open for business'


President Trump on Monday evening said while the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is "going to be bad," his administration is "trying to make it much less bad" and the United States "cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself."
Businesses deemed non-essential are closed across the country, leading to increased unemployment numbers, and that can't continue, Trump said. "Our country was not built to be shut down," he declared. "This is not a country that was built for this. It was not built to be shut down."
The United States will "soon be open for business, very soon, a lot sooner than the three or four months that somebody was suggesting," Trump continued. He called COVID-19 the "invisible enemy," and later warned that if the economy doesn't rebound, more people will die. "People get tremendous anxiety and depression and you have suicide over things like this, when you have a terrible economy you have death, definitely would be in far greater numbers than we're talking about with regard to the virus. We have a double obligation."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Israel's plan for confining all Palestinians in 'humanitarian city'
The Explainer Defence minister wants to establish zone in Gaza for displaced people – which they would not be allowed to leave – prompting accusations of war crimes
-
Secluded retreats for aspiring writers
The Week Recommends These tranquil hideaways are the perfect place to put pen to paper
-
The Velvet Sundown: viral band that doesn't actually exist
In the Spotlight These AI-generated rock hits are brought to listeners by… no one
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Exurbs: America's biggest housing trend you haven't heard of
Under the Radar Northeastern exurbs were the nation's biggest housing markets in 2024
-
A newly created gasoline giant in the Americas could change the industry landscape
The Explainer Sunoco and Parkland are two of the biggest fuel suppliers in the US and Canada, respectively
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices