President Trump on Friday used the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to produce ventilators to combat the coronavirus after days of hesitating to use the powers in the law.
The president in a statement said the federal government had abandoned negotiations with the automaker on ventilator production, complaining that the automaker was "wasting time."
"Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course," Trump said.
The Trump administration had been negotiating with GM to make tens of thousands of ventilators, but talks broke down due to concerns that the price tag would exceed $1 billion.
The president turned his ire on the automaker earlier Friday, singling out CEO Mary Barra for criticism.
"As usual with 'this' General Motors, things just never seem to work out," Trump tweeted. "They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, 'very quickly'. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B."
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After he tagged the wrong GM on twitter and quoted a factory that they no longer own. Classic
ReplyDeleteWhy not Ford, Toyota, VW, Honda, etc?
ReplyDeleteDoes everybody remember the bailout of GM in 2008? The United States saved GM by investing over $50 billion in the company. After stock sales, the American taxpayers ultimately lost over $11 billion that will not be recovered. Now, when the country is in trouble, they try to 'bargain' with the government so that their bottom line looks better and their stock value stays up. To date, GM is the only company for which President Trump has had to use the Defense Production Act to get needed medical supplies to save American lives. The same Americans that saved their butts. Thanks GM.
ReplyDelete@12:58 - GM plants would only be making the ventilators. Ventec, who actually owns makes the devices, was who FEMA was holding talks with. Ventec would be using GM plants. GM and Ventec had already been repurposing the auto plant while Ventec/Government negotiations were ongoing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, 1:32.
DeleteGm big push to build electric cars to “save lives “ now has to be ordered by the most powerful tool in the war chest to build a product to actually save lives. Ironic
ReplyDelete132 wrong so wrong
ReplyDeleteAnd to think , we Bailed GM out in the Obama era !!!
ReplyDelete6:10 then share your great wisdom with us.
ReplyDeleteLets bash another great American company for stepping up
ReplyDelete