The coronavirus pandemic is pushing countries around the world into a cutthroat competition for medical resources — and the United States is being cast as a leading villain.
President Donald Trump’s administration stands accused of effectively hijacking shipments of masks and additional crucial supplies meant for other countries, including U.S. allies, and strong-arming private firms to prioritize America over other parts of the world.On Friday, Trump announced he was invoking the Defense Production Act to restrict U.S. exports of key medical gear…
Developing countries, where Covid-19 has yet to fully wreak havoc, are terrified of being left behind in the race for personal protective equipment, or PPE, and other materials because they cannot match the purchasing power of the U.S. and other wealthy countries.
Independent aid organizations that cater to the neediest corners of the globe are finding themselves competing for attention from medical goods manufacturers. The Trump administration has even asked aid groups to share those supplies with the U.S. government, in a bizarre reversal of the usual dynamic between the world’s leading power and those it typically helps.
“It’s ‘Lord of the Flies: PPE Edition’,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former U.S. official who specializes in disaster response. “We need some global solidarity, and instead we have global competition”…
To read the entire article from Politico, click https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/ppe-world-supplies-coronavirus-163955
What did anyone expect with a Bully-Style businessperson elected to try and run a government ‘like a business’?