2020年3月19日,加拿大总理贾斯廷·特鲁多在加拿大渥太华的住所举行的新闻发布会上谈到了加拿大的COVID-19情况。
唐纳德·特朗普总统在周六晚上的新闻发布会上表示,他的政府利用《国防生产法》来强制生产个人防护装备可以被视为一种“报复”该声明发表之际,与制造公司3M的纠纷仍在继续,该公司已就面具出口的明显限制与白宫进行了反驳。
“就是这样,这是一种报复,”特朗普在谈到利用法律权威时表示,他正与3M公司合作,帮助完成他订购的1.8亿个N-95口罩。“如果人们没有给我们所需要的东西,我们将会非常艰难。”
加拿大总理贾斯廷·特鲁多在周六早些时候的新闻发布会上表示,在特朗普此前宣布可能限制N-95呼吸器的出口后,加拿大不会惩罚美国。
特鲁多在渥太华首相官邸里多别墅外的COVID-19发布会上说:“我们认识到,我们的国家在某些非常复杂的方面是紧密相连的。”。“必要的货物和服务在我们的边境上来回流动,让我们双方都很安全,并在边境两侧帮助我们。”
特朗普政府的一名高级官员周六进一步加剧了僵局,他说新闻周刊面具禁运的广泛报道并不准确。
“美国当然没有切断对加拿大或墨西哥的N95出口,”这位官员说。"那只是恶意挑衅者传播的虚假消息."
特鲁多的一名发言人没有回复记者的置评请求。
特朗普表示,在他的政府应对疫情的过程中,他对多家公司感到失望,最终导致了与制造商3M的最新纠纷,这反过来导致了明显的贸易限制。
周四,特朗普援引《国防生产法》(Defence Production Act)——一项授权总统控制商品生产和分销的强有力的立法——指示官员从3M购买他们认为合适的任何数量的面具。
第二天,3M关切地回应道,它一直打算遵守政府的生产要求。
“在过去的几个星期和几个月里,3M公司及其员工竭尽全力为美国市场生产尽可能多的N95呼吸器,”该公司的一份新闻稿写道。“我们一直在与美国政府密切合作,以实现这一目标。我们感谢美国疾病预防与控制管理局(DPA)的相关部门为我们提供了一个框架,使我们能够进一步扩大我们在应对全球流行病危机方面所做的工作。”
该公司透露,特朗普政府已要求其停止向加拿大和南美出口呼吸器,并称这一事态发展具有“重大人道主义影响”
这位政府官员表示:“3M故意传播错误信息,本届政府明确告知,它现在的唯一使命是制造面具,而不是开展宣传活动,为这场危机中不合情理的行为开脱。”。
2020年4月3日,美国总统唐纳德·特朗普与白宫冠状病毒特别工作组成员在DC首都华盛顿的新闻发布室聆听提问。
3M没有回应就政府立场寻求置评的请求。
在周五的新闻发布会上,特朗普加剧了争议,宣布他将援引《国防生产法》(Defense Production Act)来“阻止”N-95呼吸器和其他关键个人防护装备的出口。
“我们需要这些物品立即用于国内使用,”特朗普说。“我们必须拥有它们。”
后来,政府发布了一项指令,宣布“美国的政策是防止国内经纪人、经销商和其他中介将[面具转移到海外”
加拿大总理周五回应称,这一决定是一个“错误”,将限制加拿大“获得货物和人员”
周六,一名记者问特鲁多,每天从加拿大进入底特律的数千名护士是否会被阻止这样做,作为一种报复行动,他拒绝了这一前景。
他说:“我们正继续与政府不同层面进行建设性的讨论,以强调如果我们看到基本商品和服务的跨境流动中断,美国将和加拿大一样受到伤害。”。
特鲁多补充说,他的国家将在未来两天的某个时候通过包机从国外接收一批面具。
东部时间晚上8:09进行更正,以反映这篇文章的标题已被修改。
TRUMP TALKS TOUGH, TRUDEAU WON'T RETALIATE OVER N-95 MASKS
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference on the COVID-19 situation in Canada from his residence March 19, 2020, in Ottawa, Canada.
President Donald Trump said at a press conference Saturday evening that his administration's use of the Defense Production Act to compel production of personal protective equipment could be considered a "retaliation." The statement comes amid an ongoing dispute with the manufacturing company 3M, which has traded rebuttals with the White House over apparent restrictions on mask exports.
"That's what it is, it's a retaliation," Trump said of using the law's authorities, as he is working with 3M to help fulfill his order for 180 million N-95 respirator masks. "If people don't give us what we need for our people, we're going to be very tough."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference earlier on Saturday that his country will not punish the United States after Trump had previously announced that exports of N-95 respirators may be restricted.
"We recognize that our countries are deeply interlinked in sometimes very complex ways," Trudeau said at a COVID-19 briefing outside Rideau Cottage, the prime minister's official residence, in Ottawa. "The necessary goods and services that flow back and forth across our border keep us both safe and help us on both sides of the border."
A senior Trump administration official further complicated the stand-off on Saturday, telling Newsweekthat widespread reports of mask embargoes were not accurate.
"The U.S. has certainly not cut off N-95 exports to Canada or Mexico," the official said. "That is simply fake news propagated by malicious provocateurs."
A spokesperson for Trudeau did not return a request for comment about the development.
Trump has expressed frustration with multiple companies over the course of his administration's response to the pandemic, culminating in this latest dust-up with the manufacturer 3M which in turn led to the apparent trade restrictions.
On Thursday, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act—a forceful piece of legislation authorizing the president to control the production and distribution of goods—directing officials to procure any number of masks from 3M they deem appropriate.
The following day, 3M responded with concern, noting that it always intended on complying with the administration's production requirements.
"Over the last several weeks and months, 3M and its employees have gone above and beyond to manufacture as many N95 respirators as possible for the U.S. market," a press release from the company reads. "We have been working closely with the Administration to do exactly that, and we appreciate the authorities in the DPA that provide a framework for us to expand even further the work we are doing in response to the global pandemic crisis."
The company disclosed that the Trump administration had requested it halt exports of respirators to Canada and South America, a development it said had "significant humanitarian implications."
"3M is deliberately spreading misinformation and has been advised by this Administration in no uncertain terms that its only mission now is to produce masks – not conduct a propaganda campaign to exonerate behaviors in this crisis that are unconscionable," the administration official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to questions in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force April 3, 2020, in Washington, DC.
3M did not respond to a request seeking comment about the administration's position.
At a press conference on Friday, Trump escalated the dispute, announcing that he would be invoking the Defense Production Act to "prevent the export" of N-95 respirators and other critical personal protective equipment.
"We need these items immediately for domestic use," Trump said. "We have to have them."
Later, the administration released a directive announcing that "it is the policy of the United States to prevent domestic brokers, distributors, and other intermediaries from diverting [masks] overseas."
The Canadian prime minister responded Friday by calling the decision a "mistake" that would limit his country's "access to goods and personnel."
On Saturday, a journalist asked Trudeau whether the thousands of nurses who cross into Detroit every day from Canada might be prevented from doing so as a retaliatory action, a prospect that he rejected.
"We are continuing to engage in constructive discussions with different levels within the administration to highlight that the U.S. will be hurting itself as much as Canada will be hurting if we see an interruption of essential goods and services flow across the border," he said.
Trudeau added that his country will be receiving a shipment of masks from abroad, by way of a chartered cargo flight, sometime in the next two days.
Correction 8:09 PM ET to reflect that the headline to this story has been revised.