The United States intercepted a delivery of face masks made by 3M that were en route to a German police department, a move that a Berlin security official described as “wild west methods.”
Approximately 200,000 masks manufactured by the Minnesota manufacturing company, and paid for by Germany, were diverted as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, according to Berlin officials.
According to the Associated Press, Berlin state minister Andreas Geisel called the move “an act of modern piracy,” saying, “This is no way to treat trans-Atlantic partners.”
“Even in times of global crisis there should be no wild west methods,” the minister said.
The White House is expected to announce on Friday new guidance on the use of face masks. Studies suggest that a high number of people with COVID-19 cases may not exhibit symptoms, and masks help limit the transmission from people who don’t know they are infected.
On Thursday, President Trump ordered 3M to sell the Federal Emergency Management Agency as many N95 respirator masks as the agency says it needs. The order comes under the Defense Production Act and requires a company like 3M to sell masks to the government if asked.
Trump’s trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro pointed to some of the difficulties in securing 3M products at the daily White House news briefing that day.
“To be frank, over the last several days we’ve had some issues, making sure that all of the production that 3M does around the world, enough of it is coming back here to the right places,” Navarro said.
There was “a tremendous amount of frustration” within the task force regarding the 3M discussion, a White House official with knowledge of the 3M discussions told the Financial Times.
“The administration had worked very hard to ease some rules for 3M and other respirator manufacturers because those companies, 3M chief among them, had essentially promised that they would immediately be putting 35 million N95s into the U.S. marketplace,” the official added. “It became clear recently that wasn’t happening.”
Last month, Trump invoked the DPA for the first time since the outbreak began to require General Motors to begin manufacturing ventilators. Previously, Navarro touted the threat of the act as simple leverage in discussions with companies.
White House officials have sought to persuade 3M to limit exports from U.S. factories to neighboring countries.
3M pushed back on Friday in a statement that said doing so raised “significant humanitarian implications.” The company is a critical supplier of equipment to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, the company said.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has reported more than 245,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday and more than 6,000 deaths.
