Issued on: 04/04/2020 – 17:55
Modified: 04/04/2020 – 17:59
From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower’s “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
In France and Germany, senior officials said the United States was paying far above the market price for medical-grade masks from No. 1 producer China, on occasion winning contracts through higher bids even after European buyers believed a deal was done, and Brazil’s health minister reported a similar incident.
“Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate,” one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU/CSU group told Reuters.
. . .
U.S.-listed multinational 3M Co said Friday that the White House had ordered it to stop all shipments to Canada and Latin America of respirators that it manufactures in the United States, despite what 3M called “significant humanitarian implications.”
More:
https://www.france24.com/en/20200404-us-allies-denounce-country-s-strong-arm-tactics-to-procure-masks-for-coronavirus-fight
