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Saturday, April 04, 2020, 21:40
Germany, France say Americans play dirty over masks
By Agencies
Saturday, April 04, 2020, 21:40 By Agencies

A worker unloads boxes of protective masks from a plane of German airline Lufthansa delivered from Shanghai at Frankfurt Airport on March 25, 2020 in Frankfurt, Germany.  (THOMAS LOHNES/GETTY IMAGES VIA BLOOMBERG)

The scarcity of safety equipment essential to the coronavirus fight is fueling tensions between longtime transatlantic allies, with local officials in France and Germany accusing unnamed Americans of using unfair means to obtain protective masks.

READ MORE: Virus Update: Europe grapples with medical supply shortage

Berlin’s state interior ministry blamed the US for confiscating 200,000 masks ordered from a US producer when they were in transit through Bangkok. French officials have accused unidentified Americans of paying over the odds to secure masks in China that had already been earmarked for France.

The US embassy in Paris said any suggestion that the federal government was involved in such practices was “completely false.” There was no immediate response the allegations from the White House or the State Department.

We view this as an act of modern piracy. You cannot act in such a way among transatlantic partners. Such wild west methods can’t dominate, even in a time of global crisis

Andreas Geisel, Berlin Interior Minister

“We view this as an act of modern piracy,” Berlin Interior Minister Andreas Geisel said. “You cannot act in such a way among transatlantic partners. Such wild west methods can’t dominate, even in a time of global crisis.”

With hundreds of western citizens dying each day, the incidents highlight the fundamental distrust between the US and Europe. It risks hampering efforts to collectively tackle the damage unleashed by a virus that has brought the world’s economy to a standstill.

French Prime minister Edouard Philippe said Thursday that his administration has seen orders canceled as a result of the global shortage of protective gear. Some French officials are blaming unidentified Americans for swooping in to outbid them as they try to secure supplies.

“A load was taken from us by Americans who overbid on a batch that we had identified,” Valerie Pecresse, regional president of Paris, told broadcaster LCI Thursday. “We pay on delivery because we want to see the masks, while Americans pay cash and without looking.” She didn’t say whether the people involved were federal officials, company representatives or private individuals.

ALSO READ: No better gifts: China businesses send masks to European clients

The pandemic has left governments, companies, charities and individuals around the world competing for scarce supplies of protective kit and medical equipment as health care systems face an unprecedented surge of highly infectious patients with acute, sometimes deadly respiratory problems.

3M Co. on Friday defended its decision to export respirators from its US facilities to Canada and Latin America, saying there would be “significant humanitarian implications” from halting supplies. US President Donald Trump earlier threatened retribution against the company for sending masks and ventilators outside the US.

The head of the Grand Est region in France, Jean Rottner, told RTL radio that his representatives had been outbid by rivals from the US when they were trying to source masks.

“On the tarmac, Americans take out cash and pay three or four times the price for our orders, so we really have to fight,” he said. A spokesman for Rottner declined to comment.


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