Trump Floats Funding for Oil Industry After Prices Plunge

President Donald Trump arrives for the daily CCP virus briefing at the White House in Washington on April 20, 2020. Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has directed the exploration of giving funding to oil and gas companies after the market plunged.

Oil prices fell to negative numbers on Monday amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump on Tuesday said that the United States “will never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down.”

“I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future,” he added in a social media statement.

A man wearing a mask against the spread of the CCP virus looks at an electronic stock board showing world stock indexes at a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan on April 21, 2020. Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo

Steven Muchin, the Treasury secretary, has helped formulate plans in recent weeks that saw millions in government funds go to airlines, restaurants, and other businesses.

Trump adviser Stephen Moore said in an op-ed that many small- and medium-sized oil producers across the country are shutting down amid the unprecedented situation, calling for slashing taxes paid by onshore drillers as well as some royalties.

“The feds now collect about $6 billion a year in royalties. Canceling those payments would be a small price to pay to save an industry that employs several million workers. Under federal law, the president has the executive authority to take this action,” he wrote.

Under Trump, the United States became a net oil exporter for the first time in decades.