‘Full-Speed Ahead’: Trump Invokes Korean War Era Law To Fight COVID-19, Shaking Up US Device Manufacturing

Prez tweets: “We are all in this TOGETHER!”

Calling himself a “wartime president,” Donald Trump on 18 March invoked the Defense Production Act to push US manufacturers to produce medical products needed to combat COVID-19 – even if those companies aren’t device makers. Trump later signed an Executive Order giving Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar the power to “allocate materials, services and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate” – all actions covered by the DPA.

A modern ships telegraph close up - FULL SPEED AHEAD

Calling himself a “wartime president,” Donald Trump on 18 March invoked a Korean War era law to push US manufacturers to produce medical products needed to combat COVID-19 – even if those companies aren’t device makers.

“I will be invoking the Defense Production Act, just in case we need it. It can do a lot of good things if we need it,” the president said at...

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