‘We need the masks, we don't want others getting them’: Trump denies US medical supplies ‘piracy’

4 Apr, 2020 21:42 / Updated 24 minutes ago

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©  Reuters / Nicholas Pfosi 

Dismissing the accusations of ‘modern piracy’ for seizing and diverting shipments of vital protective masks from its allies in Germany and France to the US, President Donald Trump claimed the situation was the exact ‘opposite.’

Asked about the controversy over the White House pressuring safety gear manufacturer 3M to prioritize and step up imports of protective masks from its Chinese factories to the US – often at the expense of other customers, including America’s closest allies – Trump dismissed the accusations of “modern piracy.”

There's been no act of piracy. It was the opposite.

“We are very disappointed in 3M... they can sell to others, but they should be taking care of our country,” Trump added in the true spirit of ‘America First policy.

ALSO ON RT.COM‘America First’: Covid-19 exposes cracks in Trans-Atlantic solidarity as US snatches up France-bound masks

Trump did not clarify what exactly he meant by the ‘opposite of piracy’, apparently suggesting that there were some sort of legal grounds for seizing international shipments.

Mackenzie Gray@Gray_Mackenzie

President Trump on 3M making N95 masks for the US government

“We want them to help our country and I think it’s going to be ok … we need the masks, we don’t want other people getting it”#cdnpoli #covid19 http://ctv.news/adm3eBI 

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Earlier this week, a delivery of 200,000 masks left a 3M factory in China for the German capital – only to be confiscated en route and diverted to the US, according to Berlin's Senator for the Interior Andreas Geisel, who shamed the supposed “transatlantic partners” for this “act of modern piracy.”

ALSO ON RT.COMUS snatches masks from Germany in act of ‘modern piracy’ – Berlin senator

“If people do not give us what we need for our people, we are going to be very tough,” Trump said, answering a separate question about the pressure on 3M to prioritize orders from FEMA.

We need the masks, we don't want other people getting them

“We are using the Defense Production Act very powerfully. Sometimes directly, in many cases indirectly, just a threat of it is usually enough," Trump added.

You could call it a retaliation, because that’s what it is

The multinational conglomerate 3M – the world's largest maker of respirator masks – meanwhile warned the US administration about the dangers of invoking the DPA to limit its exports from American factories to other states and disrupting the complex global supply chains.

"Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done," 3M said in a statement.

If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease

While Trump is "working hard" with 3M to make sure his order for 180 million N-95 respirators is fulfilled as soon as possible, the United States is suffering a severe medical-grade face cover shortage. At the same time Trump noted that some of the states in America, that have not been hit too hard yet, are demanding much more supplies than needed, even with authorities distributing millions of masks from the federal stockpiles.

The number of Covid-19 cases across the United States exceeded 300,000 on Saturday, with nearly half of them in New York and New Jersey. Over 8,000 people succumbed to the virus and related complications as the outbreak has yet to reach its peak in the US – with Trump warning that "there will be a lot of death" in the coming weeks.

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