Trump Orders GM to Make Ventilators Under Defense Production Law

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered General Motors Co. to make ventilators for coronavirus patients, invoking a federal law that gives him vast powers over industry in crises, just as the company is within weeks of starting production on the equipment.

Trump said in a statement that he had signed a memorandum “directing the secretary of Health and Human Services to use any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act to require General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize federal contracts for ventilators.”

GM has already been moving to manufacture ventilators at some of its factories in partnership ...