WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said despite some progress, he still has not reached an agreement with Democratic lawmakers on a new stimulus package for the US economy.

“We continue to make progress on certain issues, on certain issues we continue to be far apart,” Mnuchin said during a virtual appearance at an economics conference.

After advancing cautiously at the open, Wall Street returned to the red after Mnuchin spoke, with the Dow sinking 0.7 percent around 1625 GMT.

Democrats and Republicans have been stalemated for months over passing a new measure to restore expired provisions of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act approved as the coronavirus pandemic struck in March.

Mnuchin, who has been leading the negotiations on behalf of President Donald Trump, said he had a lengthy conversation with his Democratic counterpart, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Wednesday morning.

But the two sides are unable to agree on how much to spend, or what form to spend it in, with Democrats demanding aid for struggling state and local governments that are at the front line of delivering aid.—AFP