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การเมืองเรื่องหน้ากาก... Protective medical equipment made by US manufacturer 3M and bound for Germany was intercepted in Thailand and diverted to the US, in an incident a senior German official described as “modern piracy"



US swoop on masks sees 3M supplies diverted from Berlin

German official denounces ‘modern piracy’ as Trump tussles with company about foreign sales


3M is the maker of the popular N95 respirator mask, which is in urgent demand by countries around the world battling the coronavirus outbreak © Bloomberg

Financial Times
5 HOURS AGO

Protective medical equipment made by US manufacturer 3M and bound for Germany was intercepted in Thailand and diverted to the US, in an incident a senior German official described as “modern piracy".

The city of Berlin had ordered special FFP2 and FFP3 masks that are used to protect emergency staff and care workers from infection with coronavirus. The order was for 200,000 such masks, according to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.

Berlin's interior minister Andreas Geisel confirmed that the consignment had been “confiscated” in Bangkok and never reached Berlin.

“We consider that an act of modern piracy,” he said. “You don't treat your transatlantic partners like that.”

The confiscation came to light after the White House tried to force 3M to export masks to the US from its hub in Singapore, as the federal government exerts its powers to secure critical medical supplies and gear needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus and treat infected patients.

3M this week resisted demands by White House officials to send about 10m N95 respirator masks being produced in Singapore for markets in Asia to the US, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump invoked his authority under a Korean war-era law, the Defense Production Act, with regard to 3M’s N95 respirator masks.

That allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to use “any and all authority” to buy “the number of N95 respirators” it “determines to be appropriate” from 3M and its subsidiaries, according to the wording of the act.
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Expressing frustration over the seizures, Mr Geisel said that despite the crisis, the “methods of the Wild West” should not prevail, and called on the German government “to press the US to stick to international rules.”

The mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, accused Mr Trump of “lacking solidarity” and behaving “irresponsibly”.

According to Tagesspiegel the Berlin police had ordered the masks from 3M. They were produced in a 3M factory in China and were due to be reloaded at Bangkok airport and flown to Germany. Instead the delivery went straight to the US.

Germany has imposed an export ban on protective clothing, particularly OP and FFP masks, as it fights coronavirus within its borders.

French politicians have also complained of American attempts to divert shipments of masks intended for France to the US, although the US embassy in Paris denied on Friday that Washington was responsible. France itself was accused last month of commandeering orders of medical equipment ordered by buyers in neighbouring countries.

The Trump administration has not enacted export controls to keep products in the US. However, Peter Navarro, a White House trade and manufacturing adviser, hinted on Thursday at a forthcoming executive order that would see the US customs agency block foreign sales of medical supplies with inflated prices.

“We are going to crack down unmercifully,” Mr Navarro said.

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