Trump Vows To Help Cruise, Airline Industries Amid Coronavirus Concerns

Updated at 12:23 p.m.

President Trump said Tuesday his administration was working with the cruise and airline industries that have been battered by the coronavirus outbreak as he prepared to travel to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans to talk about plans to stimulate the economy in the midst of the health crisis.

“We are working very, very closely with the cruise industry,” Trump said in a meeting with hospital CEOs and executives from the insurance industry. He added of the airline industry: “We’ll be helping them through this patch.”

Travel stocks have been hit hard by the uncertainty over the coronavirus, which has led conferences to be canceled, universities to close and travel to some nations restricted or barred.

A senior congressional aide confirmed that Trump will meet with the GOP senators.

On Monday, the president said he’d unveil unspecified “dramatic” policies to counter the economic effects of the outbreak that has sent shivers through the global economy as entire national regions and nations have enforced lockdowns to stem the spread of the disease.

“We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy,” Trump said Monday.

Among the steps he’s expected to call for is a cut in the payroll taxes American workers have deducted from their paychecks to pay for Social Security and Medicare. Trump also called on the Federal Reserve Board to further cut interest rates. In a tweet, he said the “pathetic, slow moving” Federal Reserve “should get our Fed Rate down to the levels of our competitor nations. They now have as much as a two point advantage, with even bigger currency help. Also, stimulate!”

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point last week in an emergency. At the time, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the coronavirus “and the measures that are being taken to contain it will surely weigh on economic activity, both here and abroad, for some time.” The Fed, he said, is “prepared to use our tools and act appropriately, depending on the flow of events.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, were also expected to brief Republican senators at their weekly lunch Tuesday.

Democrats have expressed skepticism about the plans and are expected to outline their own plans to stimulate the economy Tuesday. They are likely to include a call for additional sick leave for workers to allow them to stay home without losing wages.

The action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue comes a day after the stock market dropped precipitously. The S&P 500 was down nearly 8%. Markets bounced back somewhat on Tuesday as expectations for a payroll tax cut rose.

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