Manufacturing Crises Over Crises

"Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done."
"If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease."
"That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek."
3M Statement

"We are receiving essential supplies from the United States, but the United States also receives essential supplies and products and indeed health-care professionals from Canada every single day."
"These are things that Americans rely on, and it would be a mistake to create blockages or reduce the amount of back-and-forth trade of essential goods and services, including medical goods, across our border."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

A 3M mask — one of the items of protective equipment health care workers around the world badly need to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

"To say that I'm infuriated with the recent actions of President Trump of the United States is an understatement."
 "I cannot believe for a second, in a time of crisis, that President Trump would even think about banning key medical supplies to Canada."
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball


"[Ontario has just one week's worth of critical personal protective equipment for front-line health-care workers as it waits for more shipments]."
"[Around three million masks ordered from the U.S. have been held up by American officials, but 500,000 masks are being released today]."
"We're putting pressure on the U.S. government from all sides. [Those 500,000 masks] will buy us another week."
"What I understand is we had three million masks that were stopped by U.S. officials coming out of 3M in South Dakota."
"I just was briefed not long ago saying we were able to get 500,000 N95 masks moving forward that should be released today coming into Ontario."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Pushing back against orders from the White House to stop its export of surgical-grade face masks to Canada and Latin America -- equipment critical to the effort to control COVID-19 -- 3M, which manufacturers protective medical gear and sells their products to Canada, is contesting White House orders. Defiance against U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to allow medical equipment to leave the United States has consequences for the company, but the Trump order also has consequences for the United States. Firm neighbours and trade partners do not abandon the need of neighbours by reserving vital emergency supplies exclusively for themselves.

As a "critical supplier" of the N95 respirators among other badly-needed emergency medical supplies, the company pointed to the "significant humanitarian implications" inherent in denying protective equipment to health-care workers as they man the front lines of a struggle against a global pandemic. The reminder to the Trump administration that there was a long-standing agreement between the two countries on trade, much less a more recent one occasioned by the COVID emergency to maintain the movement of goods, services and commerce across the border, was a lesson in diplomacy.

The fact is that U.S. manufacturers of medical equipment are in turn dependent on materials sourced from Canada to manufacture their products. As in the case of a Nanaimo, British Columbia mill that makes a special recipe of pulp for surgical masks, gowns and other medical supplies which has had to double  its production for American customers amid the COVID-19 crisis. According to Harmac Pacific president, Levi Sampson, round-the-clock mill production was diverted to make the medical-grade pulp.
“We’ve never had a doubling for this grade of pulp, so you can tell that there’s some supply problems out there. Every day it seems to be more and more health-care professionals are talking about either lack of supplies or worried about it in future", noted Mr. Sampson. As he also noted that his 300 full-time workers at the mill take tremendous pride that the product they're producing is so vital to the medical community in its fight against the scourge of the global pandemic.

Well over a million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have surfaced in short order around the globe, with in excess 60,000 deaths, of which 7,000 deaths occurred in the United States alone; far greater numbers in Spain and Italy, the virus hot-spots of Europe. There is no country in the world, developed and wealthy or developing and hobbling along that hasn't been stricken with the virus, and that find themselves short on medical supplies and personal protective equipment for their medical staff.

A World Trade Organization study found that China, Germany and the U.S. together produced 40 percent of all exports of personal protective equipment in 2018, inclusive of masks, and soap, sanitizer and protective goggles. In addition to which the U.S. holds roughly16 percent of the export market for ventilators and respirators, second to Singapore, at 18 percent. Today, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal with 3M to produce over 166 million masks and the company confirmed that both Canada and Latin America would continue to receive N95 respirators.

The 166 million masks that 3M committed to producing for the U.S. market, will be imported from China, from 3M's manufacturing sites located there (“3M will import 166.5 million respirators over the next three months primarily from its manufacturing facility in China, starting in April”). The products produced in the United States by 3M on the other hand, will be exported under the agreement, to Canada and Latin America.

"The Administration is committed to working to address and remove export and regulatory restrictions to enable this plan. 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." Warning, the U.S.Administration under the Trump White House has a penchant for surprises and off-the-cuff 'solutions' to pressing problems that confound rational thinking.

"I am very pleased that a resolution has been reached between 3M and the U.S. administration. I want to thank 3M and officials on both sides of the border for their support to ensure Canada’s continued access to vital PPE", was Ontario Premier Doug Ford's last, relieved comments. Leaving President Trump to hug himself with self-congratulations for once again exercising his very special deal-making skills as outlined in his book "The Art of the Deal", where he doesn't mind gambling with life-and-death situations in search of a 'deal'.