Mamdani Sweet Talks Trump Into Easing New Rules for Corner Stores

Mayor Zohran Mamdani says his cozy relationship with President Donald Trump is what led the negotiator-in-chief to give businesses across the country an extra 90 days to get on board with new food benefit program requirements.“The conversations that I have had with the president on this, they have yielded both this extension and also they continue,” Hizzoner told reporters Friday.A new rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, would have barred many small businesses from accepting SNAP payments. The department’s expanded requirements will require retailers to carry at least seven different kinds of certain pantry staples to qualify as SNAP retailers, more than many corner stores and bodegas currently stock.Stores need time to adjust, said Mr. Mamdani, a famed tax-and-spend enthusiast who recently boosted New York City’s food assistance to match every dollar SNAP recipients spend on fresh fruits and vegetables.The president didn’t take much convincing, according to the mayor.“What I told the president was this was a rule that, if allowed to be implemented on the timeline that it was scheduled, would be one that would throw the lives of so many working New Yorkers into a real place of anxiety and chaos,” he said, including both bodega owners and their customers. “The president took that concern seriously, and he agreed to extend this by at least 90 days.”The mayor declined to specify how frequently he talks on the phone with the president. During an appearance in Las Vegas back in April, Mr. Trump accused the mayor of “destroying New York” but went on to offer him a personal compliment later that same day.“I mean, he’s a nice guy. Calls me all the time, says hi, but his policies are no good,” the president said.Their relationship appears to have improved since, despite Mr. Mamdani’s frequent criticism of many of the president’s signature policies, particularly his zero-tolerance immigration enforcement.While visiting Gracie Mansion in September, the president said the mayor had “great potential.” During that trip the pair reached a handshake deal for federal funding to redevelop the massive trainyard at Queen’s Sunnyside neighborhood. “The president and I have an ongoing conversation about anything that affects our city. And for all of the policy disagreements the two of us have, we do have a shared love of this city,” Mr. Mamdani said Friday.

Mamdani Sweet Talks Trump Into Easing New Rules for Corner Stores

Mamdani Sweet Talks Trump Into Easing New Rules for Corner Stores

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