Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, which hasn’t been used since the Korean War to help the US fight coronavirus. This act means that the President can order domestic companies to build and manufacture products needed for national defense.
POTUS ordered Tesla, General Motors, and Ford to start making respirators needed for patients across the US. He seems to be unsatisfied with one of those three companies. Mr. Trump said that GM is “wasting time,” and American lives are being lost because of their lack of action.
The US is now the world’s leading nation in recorded cases of coronavirus with 104,000 cases. The death toll thankfully isn’t as significant as it is in China and Italy. The Defense Act was deemed necessary even after the President’s statement that he didn’t have to invoke it because companies started converting their manufacture on their own.
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The things apparently changed as Mr. Trump now tells a different story: “The virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course.”
Donald Trump publicly criticized General Motors, saying that they lowered the number for promised ventilators from 40,000 to only 6,000, asking to be paid “top dollar.” POTUS also attacked their chief executive, Marry Barra, claiming that GM is a mess of a company.
As usual with “this” General Motors, things just never seem to work out. 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. Invoke “P”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2024
In his Tweet, Trump wrote: “As usual with “this” General Motors, things just never seem to work out. 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. Invoke “P.”
General Motors made a statement on Friday claiming that they can produce 10,000 ventilators a month, starting from April.
Source: bbc.com
Nina Smith 