DETROIT – President Donald Trump issued an order in an effort to force General Motors to produce ventilators under the Defense Production Act.
It’s the first time the president invoked the DPA.
Previously, General Motors announced a partnership with Ventec Life Systems and said it will begin delivering critical care ventilators in April and produce more than 10,000 a month.
The president took to social media Friday to show his displeasure with GM and Ceo Mary Barra. He fired off a volley of Tweets, criticizing GM for shuttering its Lordstown, Ohio plant and the speed the auto-maker is moving to produce ventilators.
General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!! @GeneralMotors @Ford
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020
As usual with “this” General Motors, things just never seem to work out. They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, “very quickly”. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B. Invoke “P”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020
GM said the company has been retooling its plant in Kokomo, Indiana to produce ventilators and released the following statement Friday afternoon:
GM and Ventec are hoping to have the first delivery of ventilators ready in April. It’s unclear how many the first shipment will be, but the company said they’re working toward a manufacturing capacity of 10,000 ventilators a month once production is ramped up.
The United Auto Workers released a statement on GM’s role in helping Americans through the growing health crisis.
“We are happy to work with GM during this pandemic for the health and safety and good of our Nation as we collaborate towards the production of ventilators. The UAW has a proud history of stepping up in times of national emergency. General Motors should be commended for stepping up at a crucial moment in our history. At the UAW we are - all in - to find ways to partner together to flatten this curve and save lives,” the union’s statement read.
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