3M deal secures face masks for Canada

166M coming from China after Trump blocked

After days of intense politics, Canada looks to have secured a vital supply of face masks from the United States.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland described the global scramble to secure personal protective equipment as the “Wild West.” And both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford pointed a finger at the U.S. as being a problem.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to compel manufacturing giant 3M to stop exporting N95 masks to Canada and Latin America, but the company resisted, saying increased trade restrictions would lead to fewer masks being available in America.

Late on Monday, 3M issued a statement saying a deal had now been reached that would protect the sending of respirators — face masks — to Canada and elsewhere. 3M said they would import 166.5 million respirators over the next three months primarily from its manufacturing facility in China, starting in April.

“The Administration is committed to working to address and remove export and regulatory restrictions to enable this plan,” said the statement. “The plan will also enable 3M to continue sending U.S. produced respirators to Canada and Latin America, where 3M is the primary source of supply.”

3M produces 35 million N95 respirators a month in the U.S.

Earlier Freeland singled out 3M chief executive Mike Roman for taking a “very, very responsible” position in standing up to demands from the White House that it stop exporting its N95 masks. 3M said Sunday that it would continue to “maximize” its N95 output for the U.S. “and worldwide, as we have done since January when this global crisis began.”

As an international supplier of one of the most important pieces of personal protective equipment, 3M was in a “very special place” as it sought to balance domestic demands with global humanitarian responsibilities, Freeland noted.

“It is really a Wild West when it comes to buying medical supplies right now,” she said. “This is a global pandemic, and every country in the world is doing its best in a truly fierce competition to get medical equipment.”

The Ontario premier complained Monday that a shipment of 500,000 masks headed for Ontario was held up at the U.S. border on the weekend. The province has four million masks on order from 3M.

Without the shipment, the province would run out of masks by the end of the week, said Ford.

“We are doing everything in our power. We are exhausting every avenue available to us,” Ford said. “The hard truth is our supplies in Ontario are getting very low.”

Some hospital workers in Ontario have been asked to ration their protective gear.

Ford said after initially being stopped, the masks were cleared for transport but he was reluctant to count them before they arrived in Ontario warehouses.

Both Ontario and the federal government have signed agreements with Canadian companies to create a local supply of masks, but those plants are still retooling and are weeks away from producing the quantities needed.

At his daily press briefing, Trudeau said he was aware of the issue and was working swiftly to resolve it.

“We continue to have productive and positive conversations with the United States emphasizing for them that health-care supplies and workers across the borders are very much a two-way street,” he said. “Those conversations are continuing and we expect those supplies to be delivered.

“We have recognized over the past weeks a number of situations in which shipments coming from different countries around the world have been delayed, haven’t arrived with as many products as we were hoping to see.”

Canada has nearly 16,000 cases of COVID-19 and almost 300 Canadians have died from the disease.

Monday also marked the launch of the Liberals’ Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which pays Canadians $2,000 a month if they have lost their income due to the virus. As of 4 p.m. Monday, more than 642,000 people had applied online for the benefit.

The benefit does not help people who might be facing greatly reduced work hours or students who are likely to be out summer jobs because of the shutdown.it also doesn’t help many workers who make less than $2,000 a month in such jobs as cashiers or care home support workers. Trudeau said he was aware of the gaps and the government would have announcements in coming days.

“For people in all of these situations, we see you. We’re going to be there for you and we’re working as hard as we can to get you the support you need.”