Coronavirus: Donald Trump’s ‘big’ $1 trillion rescue package; UK’s ‘wartime’ £330bn stimulus

Americans will receive cheques within weeks while Boris Johnson unleashes a £330bn stimulus.

The Trump administration will send cheques directly to Americans within weeks to try prop up the world’s largest economy as it shuts down in the face of the spreading coronavirus.

“The president has instructed me we have to do this now,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told a White House briefing. “We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately. And I mean now, in the next two weeks.”

The move is the most dramatic measure yet to rescue the US economy and is part of a $US1 trillion stimulus package being negotiated in Congress — one of the largest fiscal emergency packages ever assembled. A White House official said the direct payments to Americans could initially cost $US250 billion.

Donald Trump said that giving cash directly to Americans was a faster way to protect the economy than other methods such as a proposed temporary elimination of payroll tax.

“Payroll tax is one way, but it does come over a period of months, many months,” Mr Trump said in a 90-minute White House press conference with the briefing of the coronavirus task force. “And we want to do something much faster than that. So I think we have ways of getting money out pretty quickly and very accurately.”

Mr Mnuchen said: “We want to make sure Americans get money in their pockets quickly and small-business owners have access to funds.’’

“We have put a proposal on the table that would inject a trillion into the economy,” he said, adding that the US can worry about deficits “at a different time’’.

He said hotels and airlines especially needed to get emergency funding as demand dropped away sharply with Americans staying at home as the virus spreads across the country. The package includes about $US50 billion in assistance for the US airline industry.

“We’re going big,” Mr Trump said of the overall package, which would require congressional approval. “I think we want to get it done. And have a big infusion as opposed to going through little meetings every couple of days. We don’t want to do it that way. We want to go big.”

Congress is hoping to pass the package by the end of the week and it follows another assistance package passed by the House last week to provide paid sick leave and other benefits to workers economically impacted by the virus.

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with tourism industry executives about the coronavirus in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

The emergency assistance follows the imposition of sweeping guidelines aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus in the US. These included working and schooling from home, avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people, cancelling non-essential travel and avoiding eating in bars and restaurants.

A growing number of states have ordered bars and restaurants to close.

Mr Trump has warned that self-isolation could go on until July or August depending on how successful the US is in stopping to spread of the virus in the coming weeks.

There are now more than 5139 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US with 97 deaths.

We know how to beat it: Boris

In the UK, Boris Johnson said his British government was preparing like a “wartime government’’ unleashing a minimum £330bn stimulus and support package to keep the economy going during the coronavirus crisis, which has already claimed 71 lives across the country.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £330bn of loans to businesses — at attractive but indeterminate rates — a scale of support unimaginable only days ago.

To reassure companies that they haven’t done anything wrong yet their revenues go off a cliff, Mr Sunak unveiled the unprecedented economic plan and said “we are all in this together’’.

The bailout represents 15 per cent of GDP and dwarfs the £135bn handed out during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The British measures are similar in scale to the €300bn French stimulus package and the 200bn euro injection in the Spanish economy, both announced in the past 24 hours.

“This is not a time for ideology or orthodoxy,’’ said Mr Sunak, who is a former hedge fund trader. He added: “This is a time to be bold’’.

Britain's Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chief scientific officer Patrick Vallance arrive for a press conference about the ongoing situation with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak inside 10 Downing Street.

Mr Sunak was at the daily crisp briefing alongside the prime minister who was questioned about his joke on a conference call to big business leaders where he referred to the need to build ventilators as “Operation Last Gasp.”

Mr Johnson responded: “All business wants an end to suffering, and that’s why we are working incredibly hard in next few weeks. We only have a few weeks to build ventilators, to build thousands and British industry is responding to this challenge with incredible energy and determination’’.

Mr Johnson added: “We know how to beat it, and we know that if as a country we follow the scientific advice that has been given, we will beat it’’.

However the Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance says a death rate of 20,000 would be a good outcome, and only achievable if the strict measures announced on Monday were followed.

They are to avoid pubs, clubs, and restaurants, and any social gatherings; and if aged in 70s or older or pregnant to self-quarantine for the next 12 weeks — which are designed to reduce the impact of the virus by around 50 per cent.

Stricter measures such as the home isolation for non-essential workers in France, Italy and Spain, and the closure of schools may be introduced in the UK in the coming days or weeks.

Denmark announced that on Wednesday all restaurants, bars, cafes, night clubs, gyms, and tattoo parlours will be shut for a fortnight and that gatherings of more than 10 people will be banned.

Sir Patrick said the new steps to try and suppress the numbers of British cases would reduce the number of deaths significantly.

“Every year in seasonal flu the number of deaths is thought to be about 8000 excess deaths.

“So if we can get this down into numbers of 20,000 and below, that’s a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak.

“But I mean it’s still horrible, I mean that’s still an enormous amount of deaths and it’s still enormous pressure on the health service.’’

It is believed more than 55,000 cases of coronavirus are in the country, mostly centred in London, but Public Health England only tests 4000 a day.

The parliamentary Health Select Committee was read a letter from an accident and emergency doctor who warned the situation in A&E was “absolute carnage’’ and “utter chaos’’ and that doctors were in shock and felt “like we’re being thrown to the wolves”. The doctor expressed fear that “some of us are going to die” because of inadequate protective clothing being available.

Mr Sunak’s economic announcement was met with a warm response by the market.

As well as the business loans, which will be worth up to £5m to each company, Mr Sunak has promised three months of mortgage relief for anyone who is struggling to make repayments.

He said he would also make available cash grants of £25,000 for each small and medium sized business, and retail, hospitality and leisure sector firms would be exempt from business rates for a year.

“Today I am making available an initial £330billion of guarantees equivalent to 15 per cent of our GDP,’’ Mr Sunak said.

“That means that any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent, their salaries, suppliers or purchase stock will be able to access a government backed loan or credit on attractive terms.

“And if demand is greater than the initial £330billion I am making available today I will go further and provide as much capacity as required. I said whatever it takes and I meant it.’

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia, Jacquelin Magnay is The Australian’s Europe correspondent