St. Paul, Minnesota — United States President Donald Trump has asked 3M to stop exporting the N95 respirators it manufacturers within American borders, 3M said in a press release.
On April 3, 3M issued a statement saying that U.S. administration requested 3M cease selling its N95 respirators to the Canadian and Latin American markets as President Trump invoked the nation’s Defense Production Act.
“The Administration also requested that 3M cease exporting respirators that we currently manufacture in the United States to the Canadian and Latin American markets,” said the company. “There are significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators.”
The company also said such a decision could lead to “retaliation” of similar measures from other countries.
“Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done,” said 3M. “If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease. That is the opposite of what we and the Administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek.”
Earlier this week, 3M CEO Mike Roman said the company is working closely with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and is on track to double global production of N95 masks to two billion a year in 12 months.
Roman said 3M will boost production by 40 percent to 50 million masks per month in about 60 days.
