Trump calls for deal to end US federal government shutdown
America's President reached out overnight to Democratic lawmakers to resolve a dispute over funding for extending the border wall with Mexico which had led to a partial shutdown of the US federal government just under a fortnight before.
Nine of 15 US federal government departments were shutdown as a result, together with several dozen government agencies with hundrends of thousands of public sector workers impacted as well.
According to reports, overnight Donald Trump invited the eight top Republican and Democratic lawmakers from both houses of Congress to the White House to discuss border security.
In parallel, Trump said on social media: "Border security and the Wall "thing" and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let's make a deal?"
Pelosi, the Democrats' leader in the House of Representatives, was due to take over as speaker in the lower of chamber of Congress the next day.
Eleven days before, Trump had refused to approve a bipartisan deal that would have kept the federal government fully-funded through 8 February, insisting that Congress allocate $5bn specifically for the extension of the border wall with Mexico.
In response, the Democrats, who were set to take control of the House of Representatives on Thursday, in the wake of the results of the latest midterm elections, were planning to bring two seperate votes to the floor.
The first of those would reopen eight government departments, which had been closed since 22 December, through September 2019, with the other only temporarily reopening the Department of Homeland Security, until 8 February.
Some market commentary hailed the news as an indication that talks were ongoing and that a deal was possible, but Bas van Geffen and Elwin de Groot at Rabobank were less certain, telling clients there was still a risk of a prolonged shutdown.
Indeed, Republicans in the Senate were expected to vote against both of the bills planned by Democrats.
"As long as the wall continues to act as a more effective divider of US political parties than it is a divider of countries, risks of a prolonged shutdown persist, van Geffen and de Groot said.
"From a broader perspective, the US shutdown may be merely a ride in the "kiddie coaster" or "Dumbo the Flying Elephant". Indeed, there is no dearth of potential global risks this year and the sheer length of the lists suggests that at least some of those risks will likely materialise. So, wearing seatbelts is well-advised. We need only mention geopolitics – with North Korea's Kim Jong-Un warning the US not to test his patience; European politics – whether that is Italian budget woes or Brexit; the political power shift in Brazil; or China’s economic woes to underscore this point."