Trump Says Two Companies Responding to Forced Production Threat

President Donald Trump said two companies that he didn’t identify are responding favorably to the government’s demands for equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic, after he threatened to force General Motors Co. to make ventilators.

Trump said he may invoke the Defense Production Act “maybe once or twice” more.

He issued a memo on Friday citing the law to force GM to produce hospital ventilators. The automaker was already working to produce the medical devices at some of its factories, an effort that required retooling and sourcing dozens of parts, but Trump and his aides complained it’s moved too slow and is trying to charge too much.

“We’re looking at two companies that have not lived up to what they’ve said -- I would say they are in a 1% group,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House to send off a Navy hospital ship for New York City from Norfolk, Virginia.

“And now all of a sudden they heard we’re going to use it, and they’re rolling out the red carpet.”

He didn’t identify the companies or say what the government wants them to produce. He said later Friday, after his GM memo, that he may be able to reach a deal with the automaker to avoid using the law.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mario Parker in Washington at mparker22@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net

Ros Krasny

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