WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States and Canada closed their mutual border to “non-essential traffic” on Wednesday while President Donald Trump moved to hasten medical equipment production and said hospital ships would be deployed in the battle against the coronavirus.
The new steps were announced as Wall Street extended a four-week plummet amid deepening concerns about a worsening public health crisis that has paralyzed large sectors of the U.S. economy and led to fears of a global recession.
By the closing bell on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average effectively erased the last of the once-sizeable gains it had accrued since President Donald Trump took office.
The S&P 500, a broader measure of the U.S. stock market, ended the day down 5.2%, nearly 30% off February’s record peak as growing signs of coronavirus damage to corporate American overshadowed sweeping official moves to protect the economy.
In a struggle that Trump previously minimized but now likens to a war, the Republican president said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to let the U.S. government accelerate production of needed medical equipment such as face masks and other protective gear during the health crisis.
“It’s a very tough situation here. You have to do things,” Trump said.
The law, enacted in 1950 at the outset of the Korean War, empowers the president to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons.
His action came after criticism that his administration was slow in its initial response, with the United States facing shortages of diagnostic testing kits and other essential medical equipment.
With cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the virus reported in all 50 states and the total number of known U.S. infections closing in on 8,000, millions of Americans stayed at home instead of commuting to work or going to school. The U.S. death toll has climbed to at least 131.
New York, Washington state and California accounted for most of the cases, with about 40 percent of all U.S. deaths from the illness clustered in the greater Seattle area.
To help alleviate an expected shortage of sick beds, Trump said two hospital ships would be pressed into service, one to New York, the other on the West Coast.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the U.S. Navy ship Comfort, with room for 1,000 patients, would be in New York Harbor to help deal with medical needs in the most populous U.S. city.
But U.S. defense officials said the Comfort was undergoing maintenance in Virginia and it could take weeks before the ship can head to New York, while the hospital ship Mercy was in San Diego and would be ready to deploy sooner as needed.
‘EVERYONE IS AFRAID’
Trump, appearing in the White House briefing room with some of his coronavirus task force, said he would invoke another law that would allow U.S. authorities to turn back migrants seeking to cross the southern border of the United States illegally.
Unlike the northern border, the U.S.-Mexico border will remain open, Trump said.
Trump said closure of the border with Canada for 30 days was by mutual consent and would not affect trade.
The two nations share one of the world’s largest bilateral trading relationships, and their economies are highly integrated.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa that travelers could no longer cross the border for recreation and tourism.
“Our governments recognize it is critical that we preserve supply chains between both countries,” Trudeau added. “These supply chains ensure that food, fuel and life-saving medicines reach people on both sides of the border.”
Cuomo said he would not approve a directive for residents of New York City to be confined to their homes, a “shelter-in-place” proposal that Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was close to recommending.
Cuomo said he was ordering all non-essential businesses in the state to require at least half their employees to work from home or simply stay home.
“Let’s maintain the public health. We’ll figure out the economy afterwards,” Cuomo told a news conference.
Small businesses, however, are trying to figure it out now.
In the next few days and weeks we’ll have a disruption of supplies - beer, water, soda. One of our wholesalers has already shut,” said Ibrahim Yacop, 36, owner of 7 Days Liquor in Glendale, California.
“Stress is what’s affecting people more than the virus. We’re telling our customers not to freak out but there’s a huge sense of fear. Everyone is afraid and business is not normal,” Yacop said.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
Trump’s administration, as part of its $1 trillion stimulus and rescue proposal, on Wednesday asked Congress to approve $500 billion in cash payments to taxpayers in two rounds - on April 6 and May 18 - and $50 billion in loans to U.S. airlines, which have been pummeled by the pandemic, according to a document seen by Reuters.Some Senate Republicans have called for delivering $1,000 checks to taxpayers, but Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said they should receive more.
The administration is seeking another $150 billion to aid severely distressed sectors of the economy with secured lending or loan guarantees and $300 billion in small business loans. Officials have said that could include hotels, restaurants, aviation manufacturing and cruise lines.
As she waited for a bus to take her home in Chicago, Carol Ladd, 45, a part-time food service worker at a senior citizens housing complex, said $1,000 would not be nearly enough, given that disruptions could last for months.
“I have rent, lights, phone, gas and food I got to buy,” said Ladd, who said she earns about $900 a month. “That’s only going to take me through one month. They need to do more.”
Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey in Washington and Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien, Nathan Layne, Hilary Russ, Maria Ponnezhath and David Ljunggren, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Idrees Ali; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Berkrot
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