Trump says U.S. will expand emergency national stockpile.

Washington — President Donald Trump announced Thursday a plan to reconfigure the government’s chronically undersupplied stockpile of emergency gear to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, accelerating manufacturing and broadening the array of supplies it houses.

The president said his administration is launching what he termed a “groundbreaking initiative” to “replenish and modernize” the government’s stores of masks, ventilators and other essential pandemic-fighting medical equipment to create a 90-day reserve.

In keeping with his “America First” slogan, Trump and his aides said the manufacturing would be carried out by U.S. companies, diminishing the reliance on foreign factories that have been the stockpile’s major sources.

Speaking in Allentown, Pa., at an Owens & Minor distribution center for medical supplies, the president said “the cupboards were bare” in the federal Strategic National Stockpile when the novel coronavirus arrived in the United States.

“I am determined that America will be fully prepared for any of the future outbreaks, of which we hope there’s going to be none,” Trump said, standing in front of stacked cardboard boxes, each with a drawing of a medical gown. “Our effort begins by dramatically increasing our reserves.”

Neither the president nor senior administration officials who briefed reporters before his remarks addressed the effort’s cost. They did not say whether building up the supplies would affect the administration’s method for allotting the materials, which has been relatively opaque. And they did not say whether the plan would alter Trump’s stance that the stockpile should be a resource of last resort and that states and hospitals should buy whatever protective gear they can on their own.

“I am determined that America will be fully prepared for any of the future outbreaks, of which we hope there’s going to be none.” PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP