Trump government shutdown threat draws criticism, unnerves markets
President Donald Trump's threat to shut down the US government to secure funding for a wall along the Mexican border rattled markets on Wednesday and cast a shadow over efforts in Congress to raise the country's debt ceiling and pass spending bills.
Congress will have about 12 working days when it returns on Sept. 5 from its summer break to approve spending measures to keep the government from shutting down, and a deadline also is closing in for raising the cap on the amount the federal government may borrow.
With those deadlines looming in late September and early October, Trump raised the prospect in a speech on Tuesday evening of a shutdown if Congress does not agree to fund the wall. US stocks and the dollar weakened and investors pivoted to the safety of US Treasury securities on Wednesday.
