President Trump Invokes Defense Production Act on GM

Published by Matt Fishman on

President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to “require General Motors Company to accept, perform, and prioritize contracts or orders for the number of ventilators”.

To ensure “that health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators” are available for use, the President is authorized, by the Defense Production Act, to direct GM to manufacture and “ensure the quick production of ventilators.”

Previously, President Trump was in “negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators”, but according to President Trump, “GM was wasting time”, and the “fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course.”