Former US ambassador Joe Hockey has echoed President Donald Trump’s calls to reopen the country as coronavirus deaths exceed 100,000.

Mr Trump is insistent state governors reopen their economies as anti-lockdown protests continue.

Officials in all 50 states have already relaxed earlier restrictions to some extent.

Mr Hockey has opened up a small business in America, in the middle of the economic turmoil.

“My friends in the White House tell me it’s heading to 23 per cent unemployment here,” he said. “There’s not the same safety net as there is in Australia.”

“The US just has to open. All this argument about opening – it is not an argument anymore!

“You cannot hold people back from earning a living, it becomes a human rights issue.”

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Image: Getty/Daniel Munoz