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Trump Expected to Issue Executive Order Aimed at Ending Reliance on Chinese Medical Supplies


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Ending America’s reliance on Chinese goods has always been a focus of Trump’s agenda. His philosophy has consisently been that if we can make it here in America, why shouldn’t we?

His latest coming action is adds to that agenda. According to sources, President Trump is expected to issue an executive order aimed at ending America’s unnecessary reliance on medical supplies made in China.

Check out what’s being said:

Fox News in Detroit reports:

President Donald Trump is expected to announce an executive order insisting on American-made medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a person familiar with the plan, as the White House begins to come to grips with the severity of the situation.

Word about the planned announcement, from a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, comes amid tumult Wednesday in the unfolding crisis. Confirmed cases in the United States are topping 1,000, fluctuations in the financial markets are continuing and Washington is straining to respond.

The White House is also considering a host of more aggressive responses to free up additional federal dollars and to address concerns that the administration’s initial response to the pandemic was insufficient.

In one order Trump issued Wednesday, he authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to take whatever steps are necessary to allow doctors and nurses to use masks made for industrial use while those made specifically for health care are in short supply. Companies have been seeking legal cover for that.

“Those industrials will work for medical,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “We can just do that for an 18-month period and there’d be millions more available.”

The Daily Caller adds:

White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro confirmed Wednesday the administration is working on an executive order to eliminate the government’s reliance on foreign-made medical supplies.

The “Buy American” order comes on the heels of concerns expressed by senators during their Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill.

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that during the meeting on easing coronavirus-related financial pressures on Americans, he asked Trump to support the Senate’s “efforts to invest in diversifying our supply chain, especially in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.”

The order would prevent federal agencies from purchasing medical supplies, including face masks, gloves and ventilators, from China.

As the United States has battled the domestic spread of coronavirus, consumers were alerted to the fact that China manufactures an overwhelming percentage of the federal government’s medical equipment. 90 percent of all U.S. antibiotics were manufactured in China.

China has prevented the export of surgical face masks, severely limiting supplies in the U.S. and countries around the world.

“China has managed to dominate all aspects of the supply chain using the same unfair trade practices that it has used to dominate other sectors — cheap sweatshop labor, lax environmental regulations and massive government subsidies,” Navarro told New York Times. “As President Trump has said, what we need to do is bring those jobs home so that we can protect the public health and the economic and national security of the country.”



 

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