US supply spree angers allies
Superpower accused of ‘Wild West’ tactics to outbid buyers of vital medical equipment
FROM Europe to South America, US allies are complaining about the superpower’s “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
In France and Germany, senior officials said the US was paying far above the market price for medical-grade masks, on occasion winning contracts through higher bids even after European buyers believed a deal was done, and Brazil’s health minister reported a similar incident.
“Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate,” one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU/CSU group said.
A German government source said: “Americans are on the move, carrying a lot of money.”
Since the virus was first recorded in China late last year, the pandemic has spread around the world.
Governments in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere are desperately trying to build up supplies for medics, nursing home staff and the public. Now, with global cases surpassing one million and the outbreak exploding in the US, the competition for precious stocks is intensifying further.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US government is now recommending Americans wear cloth face coverings on a voluntary basis to stem the spread of the virus, but the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend wearing medical-grade masks.
He also said he was signing a directive to stop the export of N95 respirator masks, which provide essential protection for healthcare workers, and other US medical equipment.
US-listed multinational 3M Co said on Friday that the White House had ordered it to stop all shipments to Canada and Latin America of respirators that it manufactures in the US, despite what 3M called “significant humanitarian implications”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said blocking the flow of equipment across the border would be a “mistake” that could backfire, noting that the country’s health-care professionals go to work in Detroit every day.
In another case, an order of 200 000 masks bound for Germany was diverted to the US, Berlin Secretary of Interior Andreas Geisel said, calling it an “act of modern piracy”.
On Friday, Geisel said the consignment had been “confiscated” in Bangkok and said: “Even in times of global crisis you shouldn’t use Wild West methods.”
However, on Saturday his office rowed back, saying it was still trying to clarify the circumstances of how the masks, ordered from a German wholesaler and not from US manufacturer 3M, had been diverted.
A spokesperson for 3M said the company had no evidence its products had been seized. Asked about the 200 000 masks at a briefing on Saturday, Trump said “there has been no act of piracy”.
Earlier this week, 3M said the White
House had ordered it to stop all shipments to Canada and Latin America of respirators that it manufactures in the US, despite what 3M called “significant humanitarian implications.”
A US Department of Homeland Security official said this week that US companies and the government had been paying above market price for much of the gear purchased overseas.
The official, who requested anonymity, said the US would not stop buying “until we have way too much” and could still be searching out protective gear abroad through August.
“We’ve got our hands on every bit of it that we can,” the official said.
Lea Crager, a spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency co-ordinating the search for medical supplies abroad said disasters often led to price increases for certain goods.
“If it causes some sort of a supply chain disruption, you’re going to see costs rise for an essential commodity,” Crager said. “It just happens.”