Trump confirms reports that he'll withhold a loan to the Post Office if the agency doesn't hike its shipping rates

The Post Office needs cash.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump threatened the U.S. Postal Service on Friday, claiming that if it didn't raise its shipping prices then he wouldn't approve of the $10 billion loan currently in the works for the struggling agency. "The Post Office is a joke," Trump said, as reported by The Washington Post. "The Post Office should raise the price [of package delivery] four times … If they don't raise the price, I'm not signing anything."

As part of the $2 trillion CARES pandemic stimulus act that Trump signed into law last month, the Post Office was due to receive a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury, which Trump now says he will ask Secretary Steve Mnuchin to refuse to sign if the agency does not implement the changes desired by the administration. The Post Office is currently struggling from a plunge in revenues of about 30 percent due to the decline of business mail, stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.