Trump's vaunted task force to reopen the US economy became a marathon series of phone calls with 200 corporate leaders instead
- Trump's economic task force became a series of four phone calls with 200 corporate leaders on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
- The president praised the calls, calling them "productive" in a Monday tweet.
- But some business leaders said they were invited at the last minute to participate, triggering confusion about the ultimate productiveness of the calls.
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President Trump boasted about his impending announcement to launch a new task force focused on reopening the American economy over the past week.
But he has abandoned those plans, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. He hosted a marathon series of phone calls with 200 corporate leaders on Wednesday instead.
Those calls included some business leaders of the nation's largest companies such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, and Doug McMillon of Walmart.
Trump praised the calls in a Wednesday tweet, calling them "very productive."
On Tuesday evening, the White House had sent out a statement containing the names of scores of corporate leaders in various sectors of the economy.
"These bipartisan groups of American leaders will work together with the White House to chart the path forward toward a future of unparalleled American prosperity," the statement read.
The list also included executives from Goldman Sachs, General Motors and Exxon Mobil, as well as sports commissioners and former lawmakers. No Democratic lawmakers are slated to participate.
Bloomberg reported that some of the executives were invited to participate at the last minute, triggering some confusion among them. The sheer size of the group could also make it difficult for a deep discussion of the trade-offs involved with reopening the economy before mass virus testing is widely available.
It was not immediately clear what advisory role, if any, those business leaders would serve in the White House.
The president had earlier bragged about the intellectual acumen of his planned task force.
"I'm going to surround myself with the greatest minds," Trump said at a lengthy press conference last Friday. "We're going to make a decision, and hopefully, it's going to be the right decision."
Asked which metrics he would use to determine rolling back restrictions on economic activity, Trump responded, "the metrics right here" and pointed to his temple, NPR reported.
The Trump administration is eager to start resurrecting the American economy in May. Vast swaths of economic activity were shut down to curb the spread of the virus, causing the loss of 17 million jobs over the past month.
But public health experts warn that reopening the economy too soon without a mass testing program in place could be calamitous, as social distancing measures have not been given enough time to stem the rate of infections.
Executives from the banking and financial services sectors urged Trump in the first call to ramp up coronavirus testing to restore public confidence in the safety of their workplaces, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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