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.
Judge to allow sex offender to question witnesses in Virginia locker room case
California Rep. Darrell Issa to retire, endorses Jim Desmond to succeed him
Trump says US ‘doing very well’ in Iran nearly 1 week into joint action against Tehran
Biden says ‘I’m a h— of a lot smarter than most of you’ to crowd at Jesse Jackson’s funeral
NYC Reportedly Put Aside $400M for Dozens of ‘Ghost’ Schools that Never Opened
Emergency landing ends in tragedy as plane crashes on New Mexico golf course
US military carries out targeted strike on alleged narco-terrorist network in Ecuador
Trump Confirms He Will Withhold Endorsing Cornyn Until SAVE Act is On His Desk – He Also Makes Another Demand
Man accused of Iran-backed Trump assassination plot compared his plan to Butler shooting: FBI
ICE Arrests Illegal Alien in Idaho for Allegedly Trafficking Children Into State as Laborers
Spanberger lashes out at Pentagon after Hegseth pulls colleges’ support over woke ‘ideologies’
Illegal Alien Charged With Fraudulently Voting in Crucial Swing State During 2024 Election
Florida Bar denies investigation into ex-US Attorney Lindsey Halligan
After the strikes, how would the US secure Iran’s enriched uranium?
Four Alleged MS-13 Members Charged with Brutally Murdering a 14-Year-Old Boy
“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.
