Canada, Pushing Back at Trump PPE Restrictions

"New Brunswick Power is the electricity provider to Northern Maine."

"There are at least three hospitals in Northern Maine that would get their electricity through New Brunswick Power."

Kirsten Hillman, Canadian Ambassador to Washington, D.C.

In April 2020, American firm 3M was ordered by President Donald Trump to stop sending N95 masks such as this one to Canada, but refused to comply. Photo by Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Early in Canada's introduction to the pandemic the issue of personal protection equipment became a leading dilemma; Canada hadn't any to speak of. In a fit of generosity and compassion, the government of Canada had seen fit when China was in its early desperation stages of managing an 'epidemic' of SARS-CoV-2 -- when the rest of the world found difficulty imagining that the virus causing COVID-19 would speedily gravitate abroad -- to gratuitously send along Canada's supply of said PPEs.

 

And then Canada discovered it would need them, after all. It might even had made use of the PPE that had been warehoused past its use-before date which it decided to destroy just before Canada itself become embroiled in the predatory virus stalking through its population and panicking its hospitals traumatized over the notion it would never be able to cope with growing numbers of seriously ill people requiring ventilators, many of whom would soon be beyond medical help.

 

Mind, China returned the compliment; when Canada pleaded with Beijing to supply the country with PPE as the world's largest manufacturer of them, it sent along masks and other equipment leading to a big sigh of relief in Canada -- until it was discovered that the deliveries were next to useless; their specifications not up to par, and not worth the effort nor what it cost to access them.

 

Photograph: Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters

And then there was the trifling issue of Canada's relations with its 'best-friend' neighbour when then-President Donald Trump announced his 'America first' sentiments. And the Trump administration restricted shipments of N95 masks and ventilators early spring of 2020, when Canada was desperate for them. Even 3M protested against Mr.Trump's declared strategy of withholding and refusal to permit its masks to be shipped to Canada.

The result led to Canadian officials responding by politely pointing out there were some hospitals in the U.S. that were dependent on Canadian electricity, on Canadian medical personnel working in U.S. hospitals. Canada's U.S. ambassador produced a list of levers at Canada's disposal that could be extremely persuasive; medical equipment suppliers in Canada, the electrical supply for northern Maine among them.

Other Canadian officials met with their U.S. counterparts emphasizing that Canada had the potential should push come to shove, to cause problems for the United States, pointing out the items contained on the list of Canada's contribution to America's well-being. Including special filters for bio-containment suits from 3M produced in Canada; a requirement for the suits to be effective; a paper mill in Nanaimo, B.C. producing specialized fabric for surgical masks and gowns.

It took quite a bit of prodding to convince the Trump administration of the interoperability and interconnectedness of the two neighbours' economies; that neither country gained even a modicum of advantage from export restrictions. It seemed to work, since Mr. Trump relented, setting aside his trumped-up defence production act in prevention of critically needed items leaving the U.S. The resumption of the 3M shipments an adequate assurance of the message having had the requisite impact.

 

A CargoJet flight bearing tens of thousands of pounds of personal protective equipment landed in Hamilton, Ont., earlier this month as part of a made-for-Canada plan to deliver to medical supplies from China to front line workers across the country. Two cargo planes sent to China for pandemic supplies returned home empty Monday. (CargoJet/Twitter)

 

"As previously mentioned, there is a 40 entering the country, meaning aircrews cannot stay at the airport for an extended period of time to wait for supplies to be unloaded onto planes", explained an email between the prime minister's office staffers on the occasion when a Canadian flight had no option but to leave the Shanghai airport absent its order of masks, when Beijing too found reason to retain PPE internally rather than release the products through legitimizing exports.

A German company, Zoll, producing ventilators in the U.S. signed a contract with Canada early in March for the provision of 200 ventilators to arrive in early April. The ventilators were delayed as a result of the company having a supply relationship with the U.S. department of defense, and President Trump had used the defence production act to halt shipments abroad of medical devices.

"Zoll indicated that all its ventilator production will go to the U.S. [DOD/Department of Defense] for at least the next 60 -90 days", the then-Foreign Affairs Minister informed staff at the prime minister's office. An appeal by Canada's health minister to her U.S. counterpart exacted a promise to exempt Canada from the act, and though the shipment was delayed by a month, it was eventually received.