Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is expected to request an $850 billion stimulus package in order to pump up the economy while trying to mitigate losses due to the recent coronavirus scare The airlines are screaming for $50 billion dollars to keep them afloat until this epidemic has passed. The stock market has been in a free fall and some traders are selling short to drive stock prices down and then they buy it back at a bargain price.
The House passed an 8.5 billion for coronavirus just this past week. This stimulus could be added to that bill or they could create a stand alone bill. The Democrats may oppose it in order to use the virus as a political weapon. The Senate Democrats killed a bill that would have provided additional respirators and surgical masks.
Trump’s resident China trade hawk Peter Navarro is working on a possible Executive Order that would give tax breaks to companies who return to the United States and becomes a member of the “Buy America” movement and become part of the United States supply chain.
“China has managed to dominate all aspects of the supply chain using the same unfair trade practices that it has used to dominate other sectors — cheap sweatshop labor, lax environmental regulations and massive government subsidies,” Navarro said of the order. “As President Trump has said, what we need to do is bring those jobs home so that we can protect the public health and the economic and national security of the country.”
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow teased potential stimulus measures Monday, suggesting the White House is “going to try to help” airlines “if they get into a cash crunch.”
“We have a lot more work to do,” Mnuchin told reporters.