Trump says trade will ‘in no way’ be affected by Europe travel ban in apparent about-face after markets crash
US President Donald Trump said that trade in “no way” will be impacted by the 30-day Europe travel ban, despite saying less than an hour earlier the restrictive measures would apply to a “tremendous amount of trade and cargo.”
Trump has baffled traders and ordinary netizens after he took to Twitter in the wake of his national address earlier on Wednesday to assure the public that his order to suspend all travel from Europe pertains only to the movement of people, but not goods.
Hoping to get the payroll tax cut approved by both Republicans and Democrats, and please remember, very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2020
Very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.
The tweet raised more questions than answers, as Trump rather explicitly stated during his much-hyped address on the coronavirus that the temporary suspension of travel from Europe would have far-reaching consequences for trade as well.
On the European travel ban-"These prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things..."That's a pretty major gaffe pic.twitter.com/uhoEBGkMNI
— Brandt Hackney (@WOWSTrade) March 12, 2020
“These prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but to various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing,” Trump stated during the address which was broadcast live.
The White House soon clarified that the ban “only applies to human beings, not goods and cargo.”
Trump said "these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval."Now WH says that was wrong. https://t.co/Tph7qM0BxP
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 12, 2020
Some blamed the turnaround on Trump’s difficulties with reading from a teleprompter during prepared remarks. The US president is known for his propensity to go off-script during official speeches and addresses.
My guess when Trump read: “these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval.” “Only” was not actually on the teleprompter and he misread it and didn’t correct himself
— Katie Carney (@kgcarney) March 12, 2020
The gaffe sparked panic on stock markets, which tanked on the news of the sweeping travel ban.
#FLASHLOL -Less than one hour after Trumps Oval office address where he stated that cargo from Europe will be banned for 30 days, he's walking it back after seeing the stock futures tank out. You know what the markets hate the most? INSTABILITY. pic.twitter.com/jA2RtxgVK2
— JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUΔL³³°¹ (@th3j35t3r) March 12, 2020
This is not the fiscal stimulus the market was looking for. U.S. stock futures down 2.2%. pic.twitter.com/vRaSDcQdMk
— Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) March 12, 2020
Some have suggested that Trump only backtracked on his original statement after he saw the stock futures tumbling, however, quickly reversing course in hopes of avoiding further economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump's statement:“These prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval...anything coming from Europe to the United States are what we are discussing.”As markets crash, the White House walks it back -> https://t.co/jRG9XQhNun
— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) March 12, 2020
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