US House Foreign Affairs Chief Asks Trump Admin. To Block Exports Of COVID-19 Equipment

US House Foreign Affairs Chief Asks Trump Admin. to Block Exports of COVID-19 Equipment

Mounting evidence indicates that novel coronavirus (COVID-19) profiteers selling medical supplies to customers abroad are at least partly responsible for the shortage of supplies needed to fight the pandemic in the United States, US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel wrote in a letter requesting that the Trump administration restrict exports of COVID-19-related medical equipment

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2020) Mounting evidence indicates that novel coronavirus (COVID-19) profiteers selling medical supplies to customers abroad are at least partly responsible for the shortage of supplies needed to fight the pandemic in the United States, US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel wrote in a letter requesting that the Trump administration restrict exports of COVID-19-related medical equipment.

"There are first-hand news reports of traders and profiteers diverting these supplies to the highest bidder overseas and away from our physicians, nurses and first responders who are risking their lives to treat Americans with life-threatening viral infections," Engel wrote in a letter to Vice President Mike Pence. Pence chairs the Trump administration's coronavirus task force.

The letter urged the Trump administration to issue an immediate order for customs officers to seize outbound shipments of medical equipment until a system of priority allocation to US healthcare infrastructure can be devised.

President Donald Trump signaled a similar concern on Tuesday by hammering leading US manufacturer 3M with the Defense Production Act (DPA) after learning that the company planned to export 10 million N95 respirator masks from the its Singapore facilities to markets in Asia instead of the United States.

3M said it is cooperating with the administration.

The wartime DPA gives the US president extensive authority to seize property, force industries to produce needed equipment and expand production, and allocate materials needed for national defense.