If US President Donald Trump decides to restart the economic sector in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo would oppose it if it endangers the health of residents, he said Tuesday in an interview with CNN . The US president said Monday that he has “total” authority to ease the restrictive measures put in place by the country’s governors in an attempt to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. The United States has quickly become the country most affected by the pandemic, both in terms of death and contamination. In the country, New York State is paying the heaviest price.
This statement raised much criticism from experts and governors. According to them, this way of acting would go against the American Constitution and Donald Trump could not impose a deconfinement.
“If he (Donald Trump, Editor’s note) orders me to restart in a way that would endanger the health of the inhabitants of my state, I could not do it”, explained the Democratic governor. “We would have a constitutional challenge between the state and the federal government, it will go to justice,” he warned. “We don’t have a King Trump, we have a President Trump,” he said, contradicting the claims of the American president who claimed to have absolute power.
For the governor, a “dictatorial” and “partisan” decision by the American president to revive the economy of New York State would be “the worst thing he can do right now.”
The governor rather pleads for a “restart in stages”, which would begin with “the extension of essential services”.
He also added that if Mr. Trump unilaterally decided to ease the containment measures, it would run counter to the cooperation between US states that has been in place since the start of the pandemic.
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