President Trump stated that 3M “will have a big price to pay” after he ordered the manufacturing giant to churn out more protective face masks for the coronavirus fight.
The NY Post reported that Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to get more N95 respirators from the Minnesota-based company “after seeing what they were doing with their masks,” he tweeted Thursday. Health care workers have been grappling with a shortage of the masks that filter out airborne particles.
“Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing – will have a big price to pay!” President Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet did not elaborate on the government’s concerns about 3M. But White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the feds have had issues making sure the company’s products made around the world are “coming back here to the right places.”
The Hill reported that 3M CEO Mike Roman said the manufacturing company is doing all it can to produce masks for health workers after President Trump ripped the company’s performance on Twitter.
“The idea that 3M is not doing all it can to fight price-gouging and unauthorized reselling is absurd. The narrative we are not doing everything we can to maximize delivery of respirators in our home country, nothing could be further from the truth,” Roman told CNN.
“We are doing everything we can to maximize our efforts to fight COVID-19 and to support health workers in the U.S.”
He also added that the company was anxious to work with the administration and would comply with the Defense Production Act, noting that 3M planned on doubling its production in the U.S.
Roman said that the companh had increased its production by millions and that it was currently net importing into the country.