The U.S. could pump 800 billion dollars or more into the economy to minimise damage from the coronavirus outbreak if Congress passes a payroll tax holiday through year end, official said.
The White House Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, said this on Monday in Washington.
“We have an enormous fiscal plan. It’s at least 800 billion dollars and maybe more,” Kudlow said, totaling up actions already taken and tacking on Trump’s hoped-for tax relief.
“We have roughly 400 billion dollars in … fiscal assistance” already in the pipeline, Kudlow, a top Trump adviser, said.
Asked in an interview with Fox Business Network if the United States economy was headed for a recession, Kudlow declined to answer but he acknowledged the pain the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 was having across the country.
“We’re going to be challenged. It’s going to be tough,” he said.
Wall Street took a nose dive earlier on Monday as S&P 500 companies lost more than 2 trillion dollars in value in the first few minutes of trading.
The trading on the three main U.S. stock indexes was halted for 15 minutes as investors panicked about the virus’ impact.
In another development, French carmakers Renault and PSA on Monday announced that they were halting production at their car factories in France and across Europe due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Renault said it would be shutting down its 12 French sites as of close of business on Monday. However, some 18,000 employees would be affected.
The company said production in its sites in other European countries would depend on the local situation and it would resume production in France as soon as conditions permit.
PSA, which manufactures the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and DS brands, said it would be shutting 15 sites across Europe in stages, with effect until March 27.
The carmaker said in addition to cases of the coronavirus being identified near its factories, major suppliers were running out of stock and there was a sharp fall in the market.
