Trudeau warns U.S. against denying exports of medical supplies to Canada
3M argued that halting exports would cause other countries to retaliate and cease exports to the U.S.

     



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. | Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP Photo
By MAURA FORREST
04/03/2020 11:19 AM EDT
Updated: 04/03/2020 04:20 PM EDT


OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday it would be a "mistake" for the U.S. to limit exports of medical supplies to Canada in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
His comments came hours after Minnesota manufacturing giant 3M said it has received a request from the Trump administration to stop exporting N95 respirators to Canada and Latin America as demand grows in the U.S.
Trudeau said his government is working to impress upon the U.S. administration that essential supplies and medical professionals move in both directions across the border. “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.



The prime minister said he remains confident that Canada will receive the equipment it needs to fight the coronavirus. He did not say whether he planned to speak with President Donald Trump about the issue, but pointed to a statement from 3M that warns against limiting exports. “3M has indicated that it understands how important it is to continue to deliver on orders to places like Canada," he said.
In a news release Friday morning, the company said there are "significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators."
3M argued that halting exports would cause other countries to retaliate and cease exports to the U.S., leading to an overall decrease in the number of respirators available in the U.S. “That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek,” the statement says.
In a press conference after Trudeau's briefing, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government is "just going to pull out all the stops on this one." She said many ministers have reached out to their U.S. counterparts, and added that she spoke on Friday morning with Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S.


Freeland didn't respond directly to questions about possible retaliatory measures Canada may consider, but said she spoke Thursday night with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and emphasized that Canadian doctors and nurses living in Windsor cross the U.S. border daily to work in Detroit. "Our government … is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend the national interest," she said. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also spoken with Lighthizer about the issue.
Freeland said Canada has enough supplies for the moment, but will need more in the coming days. An official working for Procurement Minister Anita Anand confirmed to POLITICO that Canada has placed orders for more than 65 million N95 masks, but would not say how many were to come from 3M, nor how many other suppliers Canada has approached. The official said Anand spoke with the head of 3M Canada Friday morning, but would not confirm whether the company will still fill Canadian orders.
The news comes as Ottawa tries to ramp up domestic production of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus, including masks, ventilators and test kits, in the face of growing global demand for the supplies. However, Canada currently does not produce N95 masks, and there are no immediate plans to start manufacturing the respirators domestically.
The official said 11 million surgical and N95 masks were delivered across Canada this week, including N95 masks manufactured in China.
On Thursday, the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to demand more N95 respirators from 3M, and the White House has cited concerns that not enough of 3M’s global production is coming back to the U.S. In a tweet Thursday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House “hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks” and said the company “will have a big price to pay!”
But the company says it has been working since the start of the pandemic to ramp up mask production. In an interview with CNBC, 3M CEO Mike Roman said the company doubled production in January, long before there were demands for more supplies in the U.S. “The narrative we aren’t doing everything we can as a company is just not true,” he said.
In the news release, 3M said the White House has asked the company to increase the number of respirators it imports from overseas operations into the U.S. “We appreciate the assistance of the administration to do exactly that,” the company said.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...-canada-163060


sorry canada, American first, lap dog last