Trump Hears Testing Pleas From Companies in Talks on Reopening

(Bloomberg) -- Top executives from some of America’s biggest companies pressed President Donald Trump to move toward reopening the U.S. economy, while urging him to ensure that robust testing regimes are in place, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Trump held a marathon series of calls on Wednesday with hundreds of U.S. business leaders to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, after rejecting a separate plan to create a smaller economic task force.

As the outbreak showed signs of plateauing in the country, the executives had been asked to advise Trump on how to resume something approaching normal business and social life. The president was scheduled to speak with more than 200 leaders from nearly every corner of the U.S. economy in four calls, including Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook and Doug McMillon of Walmart Inc.

“They gave us a lot of great ideas,” Trump said at a White House press briefing later Wednesday. “The level of IQ on some of those calls was about the highest you’ve ever seen on a phone call, that I can tell you.”

In a call with financial services, hospitality, food and beverage companies, and retailers, executives said the U.S. needs more virus testing capacity so people feel comfortable returning to work. Some said they’re trying to secure their own capabilities, a person familiar with the matter said.

Trump told the executives the government might soon announce the availability of a saliva test for Covid-19, which the CEOs said could be a positive development to keep employees safe once they return to work, according to another person briefed on the call. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a saliva test developed by Rutgers University and others for emergency use.

Social Distancing

Trump also said companies might need to maintain social-distancing measures and have employees wear masks to safely reopen.

During a separate call with technology companies, executives were cautioned that even after lockdowns end, social distancing might continue to be the norm, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

The president told financial executives and others he is nearing a deal for Congress to provide an additional $250 billion for small business loans, one of the people said. The $349 billion Small Business Administration program was set to run out of money late Wednesday.

Republicans sought to replenish the loan program last week, but Democrats balked as they demanded additional funding for hospitals, emergency workers and food assistance.

Planning for the calls appeared to be improvisational. People familiar with the matter said that multiple senior aides and White House offices were involved -- particularly Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his associates. Trump himself pushed to expand participation, expressing a desire for titans of industry to advise him, one of the people said.

Several companies and other participants said they found out they were invited only after the president announced their names in a Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday evening or from a subsequent White House statement. They said they didn’t know the format or the purpose of the calls, and some expressed doubt the exercise would be productive.

The format was much different than what Trump initially described last week, when he said he would create a council of “very great” doctors and business people to advise him. The impression was a group akin to the coronavirus task force already guiding the administration’s public health strategy.

Outside Allies

Outside allies began to submit names of a potential network of advisers in mid-March and later there were discussions inside the White House about forming a council that included top administration officials, including Kushner and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, among others.

Plans for a second, smaller task force that includes government officials are no longer on the table, at least for now, according to the two people who described the White House’s thinking.

The calls began in the morning. The White House said the discussions would include chief executive officers of some of the country’s largest and most prominent companies, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. No specific reopening date was discussed.

While the sheer size and diversity of the new group allowed Trump to hear a broad range of opinions, it likely won’t provide an environment for in-depth debate on pressing questions such as whether the U.S. has sufficient testing capacity for the virus or which sectors of the economy should be among the first to go back to work.

Trump said last week the re-opening group he envisioned would be “bipartisan.” While the corporate executives have varying political leanings -- Jeff Bezos, the Amazon Inc. CEO who has been a Trump foil for years, is among them -- the calls include academics from conservative research groups with ties to the White House, such as the American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation.

Many of the executives are close to Trump, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Group Inc. The group also includes a few people who have criticized Trump in the past, such as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

One CEO was contacted by the White House on Wednesday morning to participate on a call with the president, according to one person at the firm. The company expressed misgivings about participating, but also believed that backing out might prompt an angry response from Trump.

In addition to Dimon, Trump’s list of calls included a slate of executives from Wall Street: Brian Moynihan of Bank of America Corp.; David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; James Gorman of Morgan Stanley; Michael Corbat of Citigroup Inc.; Charles Scharf of Wells Fargo & Co.; and Ken Griffin of Citadel LLC.

Also set to be on the calls: Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil Corp.; Satya Nadella of Microsoft Corp.; John Malone of Liberty Media Corp.; Fred Smith of FedEx Corp.; Oscar Munoz of United Airlines Inc.; Juan Luciano of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.; David MacLennan of Cargill Inc.; Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin Corp.; Kathy Warden of Northrop Grumman Corp.; and James Quincey of Coca-Cola Co.

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