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Trump invokes production law to compel GM to supply ventilators Trump invokes production law to compel GM to supply ventilators
(about 4 hours later)
President shifted position on Defense Production Act after criticism for playing down equipment shortage amid coronavirus pandemicPresident shifted position on Defense Production Act after criticism for playing down equipment shortage amid coronavirus pandemic
Donald Trump has bowed to overwhelming pressure and invoked a law that enables him to compel General Motors to mass produce breathing equipment for coronavirus sufferers. Donald Trump has bowed to overwhelming pressure and invoked a national security law compelling General Motors to mass produce breathing equipment as the US becomes the first country to top 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
For days the US president has resisted calls to use the Defense Production Act (DPA), claiming “we’re a country not based on nationalsing our business” and even drawing comparisons with the socialist government of Venezuela. But at yet another turbulent press conference, the president continued to give conflicting signals, claiming that more than 100,000 ventilators would be produced quickly but then casually suggesting some could be donated to the UK and other countries.
But Trump finally shifted position on Friday as he came under criticism from state governors, Democrats and doctors for playing down a nationwide shortage of ventilators, which enable a person with compromised lungs to keep breathing. Challenged over whether everyone who needs a ventilator will get one, an agitated Trump snapped at a reporter: “Don’t be a cutie-pie. Everyone who needs one?” He also hurled abuse at state governors and complained bitterly that he feels unappreciated by them.
Covid-19 is a respiratory illness. Most who contract it recover but it can be fatal, particularly among older people and those with underlying health problems. For weeks the president seemed reluctant to enforce the Defense Production Act (DPA), which grants him power to require companies to expand industrial production of key materials or products. He claimed it smacked of nationalising free enterprise and even drew comparisons with the socialist government of Venezuela.
Trump announced he had signed a presidential memorandum directing his health secretary to use “any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act to require General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators”. But officials say he did use it on 18 March, when he signed an order prioritising contracts and allocating resources to the US health secretary, Alex Azar, and again on 23 March, when he signed an order to prevent people from hoarding health and medical resources.
He added: “Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course. The third instance, an order compelling GM to begin manufacturing ventilators, was the most far-reaching as Trump came under criticism from state governors, Democrats and doctors for playing down a nationwide shortage of ventilators. “GM was wasting time,” Trump said in a statement. “Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.”
“GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.” Covid-19 is a respiratory illness. Most who contract it recover but it can be fatal, particularly among older people and those with underlying health problems. Ventilators enable a person with compromised lungs to keep breathing.
The decision followed 24 hours of confusion in which Trump initially expressed scepticism about the dire warnings of ventilator shortages, particularly in New York, where medical officials say the situation is desperate. Some observers suggested Trump had acted out of spite after a long feud with GM. At the White House, he complained that “we thought we had a deal” with GM “and I guess they thought otherwise. They didn’t agree, and now they do … We let them know the way we felt and they can’t be doing that.”
“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” he told the Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night. He went on to list a series of grievances with GM, including its building of plants outside the US, adding: “We thought we had a deal for 40,000 ventilators, and all of a sudden it became six, and then price became a big object … We didn’t want to play games with them.”
“I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying: ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’” The moved followed a series of tweets earlier on Friday in which Trump lambasted GM’s chief executive and its closure and sale of a car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. This stood in sharp contrast to a message sent in May last year, praising the decision to sell.
The comments provoked a backlash and on Friday morning Trump appeared to shift gear, lambasting GM for allegedly over-promising and over-charging. In tweets littered with capital letters and exclamation marks, he also urged Ford to churn out ventilators. After Trump invoked the act, GM said it had been working around the clock for more than a week with Ventec Life Systems, a medical device company, and parts suppliers to build more ventilators. The company’s commitment to build Ventec’s ventilators “has never wavered”, it said.
“As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” he wrote. “They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, ‘very quickly’. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B.” Trump also announced that the White House trade adviser Peter Navarro would become the national NDA policy coordinator for the federal government. Navarro has been a leading advocate of Trump’s protectionist trade agenda, championing tariffs against China and the European Union.
The “Mary B” reference was to GM’s chief executive. Mary Barra, as Trump renewed his grievance with her for closing and selling a factory in a state vital to his re-election campaign. Navarro told reporters: “We cannot afford to lose a single day, particularly over the next 30 to 60 days.”
He added: “General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!!” Critics say Trump ignored early warnings about the threat of the pandemic and had he acted sooner, mass production of ventilators would now be well under way. The New York Times reported estimates that if the White House had reacted to the shortage in February, the private sector might have had them ready in mid- to late April; instead it is now unlikely to be before June.
The tweet stood in sharp contrast to a message sent in May last year, praising the decision to sell. Trump’s call for the building of more ventilators comes one day after he expressed scepticism about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and medical experts’ prediction that his state would need 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators when the coronavirus outbreak peaks there.
The comments came after a New York Times report that the White House had backed away from announcing a major ventilator deal with GM and Ventec Life Systems because the cost was too high. On Friday Trump refused to back down on his comments, saying: “I think their estimates are high. I hope they’re high.”
Trump also tweeted he might “Invoke the ‘P’”, then clarified that he meant the DPA, which grants the president power to compel companies to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security. Small-government conservatives had urged against such a move, suggesting the threat of the law would be leverage enough. He suggested the ventilators produced by GM and others would serve not only New York but other parts of the US was well as helping the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain. When he called Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, who has tested positive for the virus, Johnson immediately said, “We need ventilators,” Trump recalled. “We’ll take care of our needs but we’re also going to take care of other countries.”
In a separate tweet, Trump said the federal government had bought a large quantity of ventilators from a number of companies, and that details would be announced later on Friday. During Friday’s briefing, Trump also lashed out at state governors. “All I want them to do, very simple, I want them to be appreciative. I don’t want them to say things that aren’t true. I want them to be appreciative. We’ve done a great job.”
Critics say Trump ignored early warnings about the threat of the pandemic and had he acted sooner, mass production of ventilators would now be well under way. He described Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, as a “failed presidential candidate” and dismissively referred to Governor Gretchen Whitmer as “the woman in Michigan”.
Experts warn that the US is hundreds of thousands of machines short of what it need to treat a sharply rising number of coronavirus patients. Trump said of the vice-president, Mike Pence: “He calls all the governors. I tell him, I’m a different type of person, I say: ‘Mike, Don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time. Don’t call the woman in Michigan.’ You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
New York, Michigan, Louisiana and Washington state are current hot spots and the total of US cases has surpassed those confirmed in China and Italy. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, by Friday there were about 94,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the US and more than 1,400 deaths. In another bizarre moment, when Trump was asked for a message to schoolchildren forced to stay at home, he said: “You can call it a germ, a flu, a virus, you can call it many things. I’m not sure people know what it is.” Scientists have identified it as coronavirus disease (Covid-19), an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus called Sars-CoV-2.
Hillary Clinton, a former New York senator and secretary of state, tweeted: “A month ago, Trump said: ‘It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.’ Yesterday, he said: ‘I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators.’ In another sign that Trump is not living up to his appeal for bipartisanship, Trump did not invite the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, or any other Democrats to the signing of a $2.2tn emergency relief bill. Pelosi said in a statement on Friday: “We must do more to address the health emergency, mitigate the economic damage, and provide for a strong recovery.”
“What will it take to get [him’] to listen to experts instead of his own hunches?”