President says administration is "looking at" buying Spirit Airlines; touts market records

Asked whether the government would buy a stake in Spirit Airlines, the president said the administration was "looking at helping them" and that buying the carrier could preserve about 18,000 jobs. "We're looking at helping them. We have 18,000 people that live in this country that are great people and great employees and we're thinking about doing it... we'd be getting it virtually debt-free," he said.

The president described Spirit's aircraft and airport slots as valuable assets and said that if oil prices fall, the administration could sell for a profit. He framed intervention as a jobs-preservation measure: "I'd love to be able to save those jobs. I'd love to be able to save an airline."

Earlier in the session the president criticized Federal Reserve policy, saying the Fed should have lowered rates sooner, and pointed to recent record highs in major U.S. indices as evidence of a strong economy despite ongoing conflicts. "We have the greatest economy we've ever had... The S&P has a new record," he said.

On international trade policy, the president discussed digital service taxes adopted by the UK and others and warned that the United States could respond with retaliatory tariffs if countries did not drop taxes that he described as targeting American companies. "If they don't drop the tax, we'll probably put a big tariff on the UK," he said without specifying tariff rates or targets.

The White House did not announce a plan, price, or timetable for any purchase of Spirit Airlines during the event. Questions about legal or budgetary mechanics for a government equity purchase were not answered in the transcript.