Germany accuses the US of 'modern day piracy' for seizing a shipment of medical equipment

[beijingwalker]

Germany accuses the US of 'modern day piracy' for seizing a shipment of medical equipment - as French officials claim they were forced to fight with American buyers for millions of masks on a Chinese tarmac

• The United States allegedly 'confiscated' 200,000 3M masks that Germany had ordered for their medical workers
• Berlin officials blasted the US, with one claiming President Trump is showing 'a lack of solidarity' with other countries caught up in the coronavirus pandemic
• It comes after two French officials alleged that they were outbid by Americans on millions of medical masks in China; the US has denied that allegation
• Trump has been desperately trying to secure medical equipment for American healthcare workers as COVID-19 cases surpassed 250,000 in the US
• However, Germany and France have also been hit hard by the outbreak, with tens of thousands of their citizens also sickened by the contagious virus

PUBLISHED: 22:23 BST, 3 April 2020 | UPDATED: 22:54 BST, 3 April 2020

The United States has angered Germany and France after allegedly seizing millions of masks set to be shipped to the European nations amid the coronavirus crisis.

On Friday, German officials hit out at America for 'intercepting' 200,000 masks they had ordered from a 3M factory in China.

As 3M is an American-owned company, the US was able to 'confiscate' the shipment of special FFP2 and FFP3 masks which were on their way to healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 outbreak in Berlin.

'We consider that an act of modern piracy,' Berlin's interior minister Andreas Geisel blasted.

'You don't treat your transatlantic partners like that,' he is further quoted as saying in The Financial Times.

Geisel called on Germany's government to 'press the US to stick to international rules', while Berlin's mayor accused President Trump of 'lacking solidarity' following the seizure of the shipment.

President Trump is desperately trying to secure masks and other personal protective equipment for Americans as the nation's emergency stockpile depletes.

On Thursday, the Commander-in-chief ordered 3M to manufacture more masks for Americans as the coronavirus infection rate in the US soared above 258,000. More than 6,600 have died.

Meanwhile, Germany has clocked 90,964 cases and 1,234 deaths as of Friday afternoon.

The United States has also earned the ire of France, where 64,338 people have tested positive to COVID-19, and 6,507 have died.

On Thursday, US buyers paid three times the going rate to secure a shipment of face masks from China that were due to be dispatched to France, two French officials claim. The US has denied the allegation.

Paying cash to divert the air cargo to the US, the buyers are said to have commandeered the shipment of masks as they sat on a plane at Shanghai airport ready for take off.

The order of several million masks had been due to arrive in part to the Grand Est region in north west France, an area where intensive care facilities are already struggling to cope with the volume of coronavirus patients.

Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the GrandEst regional council, told RTL radio that the US buyers had turned up on the tarmac offering cash.

He said: 'On the tarmac, they arrive, get the cash out … so we really have to fight.'

The leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, also accused unidentified Americans of swooping in with cash at the last minute to secure shipments already promised to French buyers.

Valerie Pecresse, the chief of France's most populous region, said: 'We lost an order to the Americans who outbid us on a shipment that we had lined up.'

Pecresse claimed that while France pays on delivery for such supplies - crucial in the global fight against the pandemic - 'Americans pay cash' without bothering to see the goods.

They 'are just looking to do business on the back of the whole world's distress,' she told LCI television.

France has ordered 1 billion face masks due to be delivered within the next 14 weeks and has deployed an air-bridge flight with China to deliver them amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

Shipping company Geodis is responsible for the organisation of 16 flights by two chartered cargo planes, reports World Cargo News.

A senior US official on Thursday rejected allegations from French politicians that Americans had accroached the French shipment during the coronavirus crisis, calling the stories 'completely false.'

In Washington, a senior administration official told AFP 'the United States government has not purchased any masks intended for delivery from China to France.'

'Reports to the contrary are completely false,' said the official, asking not to be named.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday asked officials to look into similar claims that masks were being diverted from his country, calling such reports 'concerning.'

'We need to make sure that equipment that is destined for Canada gets to and stays in Canada, and I've asked ministers to follow up on these particular reports,' he told a press conference.

Ottawa has recognized that its stockpiles of protective medical equipment are not enough to meet demand, as it looks to care for a surge of infected patients and slow the spread of the virus.

Canada has earmarked US$1.4 billion to buy medical equipment while asking local companies to pivot assembly lines to make masks, medical scrubs and ventilators.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-accuse-seizing-shipments-medical-masks.html

 

[beijingwalker]

US accused of 'modern piracy' after diversion of masks meant for Europe

German politician adds to chorus of complaints about American tactics to source protective gear

An N95 mask. Authorities in Berlin say 200,000 such masks were diverted to the US as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand. Photograph: David Becker/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The US has been accused of “modern piracy” after reportedly diverting a shipment of masks intended for the German police, and outbidding other countries in the increasingly fraught global market for coronavirus protective equipment.

About 200,000 N95 masks were diverted to the US as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, according to the Berlin authorities who said they had ordered the masks for the police force.

Andreas Geisel, the interior minister for Berlin state, described the diversion as “an act of modern piracy” and appealed to the German government to demand Washington conform to international trading rules. “This is no way to treat trans-Atlantic partners,” Geisel said. “Even in times of global crisis there should be no wild west methods.”

The German reports said the masks had been made by a Chinese producer for the US company 3M, but the firm issued a statement on Friday night saying: “3M has no evidence to suggest 3M products have been seized. 3M has no record of any order of respirators from China for the Berlin police. We cannot speculate where this report originated.”

The German allegations added to a chorus of complaints about the Trump administration’s practice as the US wields its clout in a marketplace for scarce medical supplies that is becoming a free-for-all, with nation competing against nation.

Valérie Pécresse, the influential president of the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, described the race to get masks as a “treasure hunt”.

“I found a stock of masks that was available and Americans – I’m not talking about the American government – but Americans, outbid us,” Pécresse said. “They offered three times the price and they proposed to pay upfront. I can’t do that. I’m spending taxpayers’ money and I can only pay on delivery having checked the quality,” she told BFMTV. “So we were caught out.”

Pécresse said she had finally obtained a consignment of 1.5m masks thanks to the help of Franco-Chinese residents in the Paris area.

Her comments follow allegations from two other French regional heads that unidentified American buyers outbid on mask shipments, including one instance when a consignment was reportedly “on the tarmac” to be flown to France.

“We really have to fight,” Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the Grand Est regional council, told RTL radio. His area had been particularly badly hit by Covid-19 cases.

Following reporting on his comments, Rottner said on Twitter that it was not his order of 2m masks that had been diverted, although it was “common practice”.

The French media have started calling the rush for equipment “mask wars”.

The American 3M company, which makes the N95 mask (commonly known as a respirator, which provides better protection than an ordinary surgical mask) said on Friday that the Trump administration had asked it to increase shipments to the US from its factories overseas, and it had secured agreement from China to ship 10mmasks from 3M plants.

But 3M said the administration had also told the company to stop exporting masks from US production sites to Canada and Latin America. The company said the demand raises “significant humanitarian implications” from stopping shipments intended for healthcare workers, and warned it would backfire by triggering retaliation from other countries.

“If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the US would actually decrease,” the statement said. “That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek.”

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the US move was a “mistake”, noting that the US also imports medical supplies from Canada.

In the scramble for masks and other critical medical supplies, the US has a significant advantage in its fleet of large air freighters, three times the size of China’s. Buyers from national governments, US states and private buyers are going through a network of brokers, many in Shanghai.

One broker, Michael Crotty, who runs Golden Pacific Fashion & Design in Shanghai, told the New York Times that Chinese factories sometimes move the highest-paying customers to the front of the line. “It’s a seller’s market,” Crotty said. “You don’t see this very often.”

Workers unload a jet used by the New England Patriots after it landed at Logan Airport from Shenzhen, China with a shipment of over one million N95 masks. Photograph: Jim Davis/EPA

ersonal connections often provide a decisive edge. Robert Kraft, an American billionaire businessman, lent a Boeing 767 to the Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, who was trying to transport 1.2m masks he had bought in China to Massachusetts.

The plane was one of two that Kraft bought for the New England Patriots NFL team, which helped organise the shipment, with the help of China’s consul general in New York, Huang Ping, who kept his office open over the weekend to process the documentation, according to an account on the Patriots website. The plane was allowed to land as long as the crew did not disembark and it stayed on the ground in Shenzhen for less than three hours. The plane left with three minutes to spare.

Speaking on Thursday in front of the plane, Baker choked up with emotion. “This gear will make an enormous difference,” the Republican said. “It’s not a secret that securing [personal protective equipment] has been an enormous challenge. And we will continue to come up with ways to chase more gear to keep our frontline workers and patients safe. We need more, we will always need more.”

US states have found themselves competing against each other and the federal government for equipment. The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said this week that it was like “being on eBay with 50 other states”.

State governors learned they could not rely on the rapidly depleting national stockpile, especially after Donald Trump made it clear that federal help would be affected by political preference, saying he wanted governors to be “appreciative”.

“I’ve got to tell you that on three good orders, we lost to the feds,” Baker told Trump during a teleconference. “I’ve got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those.”

Trump later said the federal government would attempt to drop bids if there were a conflict.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency is coordinating flights for US buyers but has so far not nationalised the distribution network, arguing that private distributors can do a better job.

Governments have been accused of using other underhand methods to acquire supplies, including banning exports of protective equipment.

Brazil, too, has said recent attempts to purchase protective gear from China had fallen through. “There is a problem of hyper-demand,” the health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, said on Wednesday.

The US has the largest number of confirmed coronavirus case of any country with about 245,000 reported infections and more than 6,000 deaths. Domestic stocks of masks and other vital equipment are scarce.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/mask-wars-coronavirus-outbidding-demand

 

[IceCold]

Europe was towing US line and was relying on the US too much. Hope this wakes them up. One cannot expect a country like US to uphold any morality. Germany and France learned that the hard way.

 

[Zibago]

Germany accuses the US of 'modern day piracy' for seizing a shipment of medical equipment - as French officials claim they were forced to fight with American buyers for millions of masks on a Chinese tarmac

• The United States allegedly 'confiscated' 200,000 3M masks that Germany had ordered for their medical workers
• Berlin officials blasted the US, with one claiming President Trump is showing 'a lack of solidarity' with other countries caught up in the coronavirus pandemic
• It comes after two French officials alleged that they were outbid by Americans on millions of medical masks in China; the US has denied that allegation
• Trump has been desperately trying to secure medical equipment for American healthcare workers as COVID-19 cases surpassed 250,000 in the US
• However, Germany and France have also been hit hard by the outbreak, with tens of thousands of their citizens also sickened by the contagious virus

PUBLISHED: 22:23 BST, 3 April 2020 | UPDATED: 22:54 BST, 3 April 2020

The United States has angered Germany and France after allegedly seizing millions of masks set to be shipped to the European nations amid the coronavirus crisis.

On Friday, German officials hit out at America for 'intercepting' 200,000 masks they had ordered from a 3M factory in China.

As 3M is an American-owned company, the US was able to 'confiscate' the shipment of special FFP2 and FFP3 masks which were on their way to healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 outbreak in Berlin.

'We consider that an act of modern piracy,' Berlin's interior minister Andreas Geisel blasted.

'You don't treat your transatlantic partners like that,' he is further quoted as saying in The Financial Times.

Geisel called on Germany's government to 'press the US to stick to international rules', while Berlin's mayor accused President Trump of 'lacking solidarity' following the seizure of the shipment.

President Trump is desperately trying to secure masks and other personal protective equipment for Americans as the nation's emergency stockpile depletes.

On Thursday, the Commander-in-chief ordered 3M to manufacture more masks for Americans as the coronavirus infection rate in the US soared above 258,000. More than 6,600 have died.

Meanwhile, Germany has clocked 90,964 cases and 1,234 deaths as of Friday afternoon.

The United States has also earned the ire of France, where 64,338 people have tested positive to COVID-19, and 6,507 have died.

On Thursday, US buyers paid three times the going rate to secure a shipment of face masks from China that were due to be dispatched to France, two French officials claim. The US has denied the allegation.

Paying cash to divert the air cargo to the US, the buyers are said to have commandeered the shipment of masks as they sat on a plane at Shanghai airport ready for take off.

The order of several million masks had been due to arrive in part to the Grand Est region in north west France, an area where intensive care facilities are already struggling to cope with the volume of coronavirus patients.

Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the GrandEst regional council, told RTL radio that the US buyers had turned up on the tarmac offering cash.

He said: 'On the tarmac, they arrive, get the cash out … so we really have to fight.'

The leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, also accused unidentified Americans of swooping in with cash at the last minute to secure shipments already promised to French buyers.

Valerie Pecresse, the chief of France's most populous region, said: 'We lost an order to the Americans who outbid us on a shipment that we had lined up.'

Pecresse claimed that while France pays on delivery for such supplies - crucial in the global fight against the pandemic - 'Americans pay cash' without bothering to see the goods.

They 'are just looking to do business on the back of the whole world's distress,' she told LCI television.

France has ordered 1 billion face masks due to be delivered within the next 14 weeks and has deployed an air-bridge flight with China to deliver them amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

Shipping company Geodis is responsible for the organisation of 16 flights by two chartered cargo planes, reports World Cargo News.

A senior US official on Thursday rejected allegations from French politicians that Americans had accroached the French shipment during the coronavirus crisis, calling the stories 'completely false.'

In Washington, a senior administration official told AFP 'the United States government has not purchased any masks intended for delivery from China to France.'

'Reports to the contrary are completely false,' said the official, asking not to be named.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday asked officials to look into similar claims that masks were being diverted from his country, calling such reports 'concerning.'

'We need to make sure that equipment that is destined for Canada gets to and stays in Canada, and I've asked ministers to follow up on these particular reports,' he told a press conference.

Ottawa has recognized that its stockpiles of protective medical equipment are not enough to meet demand, as it looks to care for a surge of infected patients and slow the spread of the virus.

Canada has earmarked US$1.4 billion to buy medical equipment while asking local companies to pivot assembly lines to make masks, medical scrubs and ventilators.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-accuse-seizing-shipments-medical-masks.html

American values

 

[zectech]

USA spreads virus around the world - blames China
USA steals medical equipment - blames China
USA bubble burst - blames China

This November 2020 selection in the states is going to be trump saying Chi-nuh alot.

Trump TV even tried to blame China over this USA bioweapon:

https://www.bitchute.com/video/nI0qv4Bv3hTo/

 

[beijingwalker]

French politicians accuse US of buying up Chinese face masks bound for France
Issued on: 03/04/2020 - 09:51Modified: 03/04/2020 - 09:51

A number of French politicians this week accused the US of buying up Chinese face masks previously ordered by France to cope with the coronavirus crisis. But a senior US official on Thursday denied the reports, maintaining they were "completely false”.

The leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris and is among the worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak, accused unidentified Americans this week of swooping in with cash to secure face mask shipments already promised to French buyers.

"We lost an order to the Americans who outbid us on a shipment that we had lined up," said Valérie Pécresse, the chief of France's most populous region.

Pecresse claimed that while France pays on delivery for such supplies – crucial in the global fight against the pandemic – "Americans pay cash" without bothering to see the goods.

They were "just looking to do business" while the whole world is in a state of distress, she told LCI television.


Americans pay upfront 'in cash'

A similar accusation was made by the leader of the Grand Est region in northeastern France.

On Thursday, a planeload of Chinese-made face masks were bought right on the tarmac just as the much needed protective gear was about to set off for France, Jean Rottner, head of France’s worst-affected eastern region, told a French radio station.

"We're working around the clock to ensure these masks arrive," says Rottner, blaming unfair competition for delays. "Americans pay three or four times the amount we pay, and in cash," he maintained.

But a senior US administration official rejected the reports, AFP reported Thursday. "The United States government has not purchased any masks intended for delivery from China to France. Reports to the contrary are completely false," said the official, who was not named in the report.

The French accusations of US snapping up masks came as the Trump administration looked set to reverse course on Friday on the use of face protections. Americans are now being urged to use face masks outdoors to stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak following conflicting advisories from health officials and politicians.

The new ‘white gold’

The fierce international competition to acquire face masks has turned the products into the new white gold in the coronavirus age.

The French government has ordered 1.5 million face masks from China and has reserved all stocks for medical workers.

Authorities are also cracking down on a black market of the now precious items after they arrive in the country. Face masks stocks arriving at French airports now receive police escorts to delivery points. “We've got our cars surrounding the convoy, with the head of the operation at the back, to make sure no one can get in. The goal is that the masques aren't stolen, that they're not ambushed or anything,” a French security official standing guard at an airport runway told FRANCE 24.

France has only four companies that manufacture masks and they are currently running 24 hours a day, guarded by security officials. They have increased production from 15 million masks per month to 40 million. But that’s still just a fraction of the 40 million masks that public health officials say France now needs per week to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Reports ‘concerning,’ says Canada’s Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday asked officials to look into similar claims that masks were being diverted away from his country, calling such reports "concerning".

"We need to make sure that equipment that is destined for Canada gets to and stays in Canada, and I've asked ministers to follow up on these particular reports," he told a press conference.

Ottawa has recognised that its stockpiles of protective medical equipment are not enough to meet demand, as it looks to care for a surge of infected patients and slow the spread of the virus.

Canada has earmarked Can$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) to buy medical equipment while asking local companies to pivot assembly lines to make masks, medical scrubs and ventilators.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

https://www.france24.com/en/2020040...buying-up-chinese-face-masks-bound-for-france

 

[Trango Towers]

NATO good bye

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

Germany should be the last country to take the moral high ground, they also stole supplies from Italy and switzerland

https://baike.baidu.com/tashuo/browse/content?id=4dc0f3e865eb5a087f4e89f4

 

[beijingwalker]

Everyone is fighting everyone to grab some share of PPE, there's no unity in EU and NATO.

 

[yasmin24]

We need a fellowship to protect this world from coronavirus. and Pakistani should watch Khabaryar and open mic Cafe

 

[Ali_Baba]

It is a dog eat dog world !!!!! Everyone for them selves.

 

[W.11]

i have heard that tons of gold was shipped to the USA after the end of WW2, jew gold was robbed, french gold was robbed as well, entire shipment of french gold was confiscated by the USA.

regards

 

[beijingwalker]

Allies should watch out for US, next time they may steal your toilet paper.

 

[Han Patriot]

'made by a Chinese producer for the US company 3M'

Interesting statement

 

[Fawadqasim1]

Europe was towing US line and was relying on the US too much. Hope this wakes them up. One cannot expect a country like US to uphold any morality. Germany and France learned that the hard way.

what about their white supremacist psyche which pervades both their individual and collective subconscious.