Wilmington (United States) (AFP)

Predicting a "dark winter", US President-elect Joe Biden urged Congress to vote "quickly" on a new plan to help the economy, still weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also reiterated his main campaign goals, including the creation of millions of "well-paid" jobs and minimum wages.

Mr Biden, whose victory in the November 3 presidential election has yet to be recognized by Republican President Donald Trump, was speaking from his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, after a meeting virtual with union officials and senior business leaders, including General Motors boss Mary Barra and IT giant Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

It was his first intervention on the economy, one of his priorities with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“We discussed the opportunity to be (economically) stronger, more resilient than we were” before the pandemic, he explained.

For now, the unemployment rate remains high (6.9% at the end of October) and the growth recorded in the third quarter is down by 2.9% compared to the GDP of the third quarter of 2019.

Joe Biden nevertheless said he was "very encouraged" by the first exchanges on Monday, not only with companies, but also with union officials, including Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the main union in the United States. .

The future president also insisted that the sine qua non for an economic recovery was to control the virus.

As the Thanksgiving holidays approach, he stressed that "there should not be groups of more than 10 people in the houses."

He also has a new recommendation that the mask be worn generally.

"More people risk dying if we do not coordinate" with Donald Trump, he warned, while the outgoing president has still not allowed Mr. Biden's teams to access the files for the transfer of powers.

- The Republican Senate?

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At the same time, he noted, Congress must absolutely vote "quickly" a plan of "immediate support" for the economy, while Americans are facing a resurgence of the coronavirus across the country, forcing some local authorities, as in New York, to toughen their measures to contain the pandemic.

The mayor of Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, has recommended that its 2.7 million residents avoid going out from Monday, except for essential travel, including work and school, not to receive any guests and cancel the traditional Thanksgiving holiday.

But the vote on an aid plan, which Joe Biden wants to be of a size comparable to that adopted in emergency in the spring (more than 2,200 billion dollars) risks encountering the veto of the Senate if it remains dominated by the Republicans.

Looking to the future, the septuagenarian Democrat stressed that his administration would aim to "create millions of well-paid jobs in the manufacturing industry, in the construction of cars (...), of technologies of which we will have need in the future to be competitive against the rest of the world ".

"We will buy American", he also promised, in the continuity of his campaign speeches and joining on this point the current host of the White House.

He also reaffirmed his desire to put in place a "fair tax system" which will consist in making large companies and the wealthiest Americans pay a "fair share", taking the opposite view of the Trump administration, which had lowered taxes. on businesses from 35% to 21%, and that of the wealthiest households.

- $ 15 an hour -

Joe Biden also intends to set up a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour, a union demand, while many jobs, especially in the restaurant sector, have a miserable fixed salary (a few dollars) and workers So basically rely on tips from customers to get decent pay.

Earlier, his advisers had indicated that Mr Biden and his vice-president-elect Kamala Harris were to meet virtually with union leaders and leaders "to discuss how, despite (their) different perspectives", they could "work together" to achieve "common goals".

According to the advisers, Biden intends to "ensure" that workers and businesses can operate safely in the context of the pandemic and "rebuild the economy to be more resilient and inclusive."

© 2020 AFP