When Will The US Economy Restart? Trump, Pelosi Offer Thoughts Amid Coronavirus Recession Worries

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, political leaders have offered their thoughts on how the economy should reopen when the outbreak subsides.

President Trump has called the decision to reopen the economy the biggest of his life. Trump was originally pushing for the U.S. to reopen by Easter on April 12, but later walked back on that decision, extending social distancing measures through the entire month of April.

“I don’t know that I’ve had a bigger decision. But I’m going to surround myself with the greatest minds. Not only the greatest minds, but the greatest minds in numerous different businesses, including the business of politics and reason,” Trump said Friday at a White House press briefing.

“And we’re going to make a decision, and hopefully it’s going to be the right decision,” he continued. “I will say this. I want to get it open as soon as we can.”

White House economic Larry Kudlow told Fox Business on Thursday that he sees the U.S. economy opening back up to eight weeks.

“The next month or two, we should be able to restart at least on a rolling basis,” Kudlow explained in the interview. “Our intent here was, is to try to relieve people of the enormous difficult hardships they are suffering through no fault of their own.”

House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., provided a less optimistic view of the economy and urged the federal government to move faster on providing financial aid to working Americans.

“We could have a depression because so many people are out of work, and that’s why we have to get the system really energized and working,” Pelosi told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on the “Mad Money” program Thursday. “Let’s get out those unemployment checks. Let’s get out those direct payments. Let’s get these loans freed up.”

Trump has declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, with the U.S. having more cases of the virus than any other country in the world. As of Sunday at 10:25 a.m. ET, there are 530,006 coronavirus cases and 20,614 deaths in the U.S.