Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has warned Donald Trump that his decision to stop a US manufacturing company from sending respirators to Canada could prompt retaliatory measures.
The Trump administration ordered 3M, a Minnesota-based manufacturer of protective healthcare equipment, to stop exporting protective masks to Canada and Latin America on Thursday.
Mr Trudeau said medical equipment “goes both ways across the border,” and noted that thousands of nurses travel from Canada to work in Detroit every day.
“These are things that Americans rely on and it would be a mistake to create blockages or reduce the amount of back and forth trade of essential goods and services, including medical goods, across our border,” he said.
Mr Trump said Wednesday that he used the Defence Production Act, a Korean War-era law, to compel 3M to sell its equipment to the US government.
NYC woman critically injured after being stabbed multiple times while jogging along Brooklyn waterfront
Democrats’ self-inflicted wounds threaten high-stakes Michigan Senate race
Tough Time Finding an Affordable Car? Thank Obama’s Destruction of 680k Working Vehicles in 2009
Texas Claims 9 Rio Grande Islands in Power Move to Deny Cartels Safe Havens
How House Democrats’ ‘deterrence message’ on Trump jobs could backfire
Outrage Erupts Over Minnesota Election Official’s Message on ‘Somali TV’: Doesn’t This Mean Illegals Can Easily Vote?
Pollster Who Predicted Clinton Landslide Against Trump Says GOP Can Still Win Midterms: ‘Lot of Winning Combinations’
Veteran Dem operative says subpar GOP candidates poised to hand over Senate majority
Trump prosecutions under Biden set precedent for DOJ’s Alaska ‘Decoy Dan’ probe, ex-FEC chair says
Biden Propaganda Exposed?: Arrested ‘Shadow Gov’t’ Ex-FBI Official May Have Helped NBC Bury the Hunter Biden Laptop Story
Surface-to-Air Missile System Deployed at Mar-a-Lago: ‘Heightened Threat Environment’
Major US children’s hospital opens historic detransition clinic after $10M legal showdown
Who are Ilhan Omar’s lawyers? Meet the high-powered Dem attorneys the embattled rep hired
El Sayed asks Haley Stevens to stay away from campaign events in dramatic 11th-hour feud escalation
Why the Ilhan Omar saga isn’t going away
“We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks. ‘P Act’ all the way,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. “Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing — will have a big price to pay!” he added.
Hospitals across the world are facing severe shortages of protective equipment, which puts medical staff at greater risk as they treat coronavirus patients. In the US, many doctors and nurses are re-using their masks every day.
3M said it had been asked by the White House to limit exports of protective equipment manufactured in the US to Canada and Latin America, which the company opposed on “humanitarian grounds.”
The company said in a statement that there were “significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators. In addition, 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.”
Story cited here.
