Trump trade adviser admits there might be a shortage of SWABS and reveals military flight is returning from Europe with supplies and FedEx planes will deliver them to Ohio and California
- President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro revealed Monday morning on CNBC that the U.S. was running out of swabs
- Swabs are needed for Americans to be tested for the coronavirus
- Navarro said a military plane is on a trip to Europe to bring swabs to the United States
- Once it arrives at 2 a.m. tonight it will be greeted by FedEx planes, which will deliver the swabs to locations in Ohio, New Jersey and California
- Navarro used the example to show how the Trump administration is utilizing public-private partnerships during the epidemic
- He also said that the company Honeywell will start manufacturing medical masks at a plant in Rhode Island
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro revealed Monday morning on CNBC that the U.S. was running out of swabs, which would be needed to test Americans for coronavirus.
‘On Friday I got work that we may have some issues with enough swabs, so the problem is because of our globalized supply chain a lot of them were over in Europe that needed to be here,’ Navarro said.
Navarro said he solved the problem by tasking a military plane to make the flight across the pond – and then planes from FedEx would further deliver the swabs to cities in Ohio, New Jersey and California, including Los Angeles.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC Monday that the U.S. was running out of swabs and so a military plane is picking some up in Europe and FedEx planes will be used to drop them off in locations around the country
Peter Navarro said President Trump’s (pictured) administration is not only using government resources but ‘the full force of the private sector’ as he explained the public-private partnership to get Americans’ medical swabs
‘I called up the CEO of FedEx, he picked up on the first ring, I said, “Fred we’ve got a problem, can you get me a couple of planes to get these things to the people where we need them in Trump time?” He said sure,’ Navarro said, referring to FedEx CEO Fred Smith.
Navarro said the military plane would land at 2 a.m. tonight and then the FedEx planes would ferry the supplies to Athen, Ohio, Cranberry, New Jersey and several locations in California.
‘We’re going to have a million swabs on 59 pallets that will go to the American people, so we can get tested,’ Navarro said.
He boasted the Trump administration is not using just the ‘full force of government.’
‘It’s the full force of the private sector,’ Navarro said.
He gave another example on CNBC saying that Honeywell plans to get a medical mask factory up and running in the next 30 days, saying the company just needed some help from the federal government to get through any bureaucratic red tape.
The broader pitch Navarro was making was for an executive order he was putting together to have the president sign that would relocate medical supply chains from abroad and into the United States.
‘What I can speak to is this broader interesting issue of how dependent the United States of America is on the global supply chain, not just for its medicines, but for its medical supplies and medical equipment,’ Navarro said.
He explained that the ‘essence’ of the executive order ‘is to bring all of that home so that we don’t have to worry about foreign dependency.’
Navarro said that about 70 per cent of ingredients used in advanced pharmaceuticals come from abroad.
‘We need to have them buy that from American producers on American soil,’ Navarro said.