Trump: US now in next stage of battle, reopening

Speaking at an Arizona mask factory Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the nation is now "in the next stage of the battle" against the coronavirus pandemic: the reopening phase.

Trump used his the trip to demonstrate his determination to see an easing of stay-at-home orders even as the coronavirus remains a dire threat.

The president did not wear a mask despite guidelines saying they should be worn inside the factory at all times.

Trump's visit came as the White House said it hopes to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming month as the president shifts his focus from battling what he has often called "an invisible enemy" to rebooting the economy.

He told the crowd of plant workers that the pandemic "has underscored the vital importance of reassuring our supply chains and constructing a powerful domestic manufacturing base."

"In recent decades, Washington politicians allowed our independence to be off shored, outsourced and ceded to foreign countries," Trump said. "But we're taking it back and we've been taking it back."

The president spent about three hours in Phoenix, touring the Honeywell factory and holding a roundtable on Native American issues.

Aides said the trip would be worth the nearly eight hours of flight time as a symbolic show that the nation is taking steps back to normalcy. The trip was also expected to be a marker of Trump's return to a regular travel schedule, as he hopes the nation, too, will begin to emerge from seven weeks of virus-imposed isolation.