From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower's 'Wild West' tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
PARIS/BERLIN - From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower’s “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies.
“Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate,” one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU/CSU group told Reuters.Since the virus was first recorded in China late last year, the pandemic has spread around the world. Governments in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere are desperately trying to build up supplies for medics, nursing home staff and the public.
He also said he was signing a directive to stop the export of N95 respirator masks, which provide essential protection for healthcare workers, and other U.S. medical equipment. In another case, an order of 200,000 masks bound for Germany from a 3M factory in China were “confiscated” in Bangkok, Berlin Secretary of Interior Andreas Geisel, said in a statement, calling it an “act of modern piracy.”A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official told Reuters this week that U.S. companies and the government have been paying above market price for much of the gear purchased overseas.
In Brazil, Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said this week that China had ditched some Brazilian equipment orders when the U.S. government sent more than 20 cargo planes to the country to buy the same products. Contracts no longer guaranteed delivery, the source said, adding: “Demand is much, much bigger than supply.”
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