The Chinese Communist Party reportedly blocked U.S. manufacturers from exporting desperately needed personal protective equipment (PPE), which is used to protect medical workers, as the pandemic exploded, and now the Trump administration is weighing taking legal action against China.
The New York Post reported on Sunday, “Leading US manufacturers of medical safety gear told the White House that China prohibited them from exporting their products from the country as the coronavirus pandemic mounted – even as Beijing was trying to ‘corner the world market’ in personal protective equipment.”
“Executives from 3M and Honeywell told US officials that the Chinese government in January began blocking exports of N95 respirators, booties, gloves and other supplies produced by their factories in China,” The Post reported, according to a senior administration official. “China paid the manufacturers their standard wholesale rates, but prohibited the vital items from being sold to anyone else, the official said.”
China also imported $1.2 billion worth of “epidemic prevention and control materials” from the end of January through the end of February that included billions of masks and tens of millions of “protective clothing” items from numerous countries around the world.