Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

7 hours ago

Poll: Katie Porter Holds Early Edge in California Governor’s Race

9 hours ago

Just 38% of Americans Support Trump’s Use of Troops to Police DC, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

10 hours ago

Families Leave Gaza City After Night of Bombardment, Israelis Protest

12 hours ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

13 hours ago

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

14 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

1 day ago

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

1 day ago

Fresno County DUI Crash Sends Car Into Embankment Near Highway 99

2 days ago
Trump Seeks to Force General Motors to Produce Ventilators
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
March 27, 2020

Share

DETROIT — President Donald Trump issued an order Friday that seeks to force General Motors to produce ventilators for coronavirus patients under the Defense Production Act.
Trump said negotiations with General Motors had been productive, “but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course.”
Trump said “GM was wasting time” and said his actions will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.
Previously Trump has been reluctant to use the act to force businesses to contribute to the coronavirus fight, and wasn’t clear what triggered his order against GM.
The Detroit automaker is farthest along in the effort to make more of the critical breathing machines. It’s working with Ventec Life Systems, a small Seattle-area ventilator maker to increase the company’s production and repurpose a GM auto electronics plant in Kokomo, Indiana, to make the machines. The company said Friday it could build 10,000 ventilators per month starting in April with potential to make even more.
After Trump invoked the act, GM said in a statement that it has been working around the clock for more than a week with Ventec and parts suppliers to build more ventilators. The company said its commitment to build Ventec’s ventilators “has never wavered.”
Trump said that while the White House activated the act against GM, it may not be needed. “Maybe we won’t even need the full activation. We’ll find out,” Trump said Friday in the Oval office.

Trump’s Action Came Just After a Series of Tweets Attacking GM

The move appears aimed at price and volume negotiations with the government. But it’s Ventec, not GM, that is talking with the government, said Chris Brooks, Ventec’s chief strategy officer.
Ventec ventilators, which are portable and can handle intensive care patients, cost about $18,000 each, Brooks said. That’s much cheaper than the more sophisticated ventilators used by hospitals that can cost up to $50,000, he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has made multiple requests since Sunday for estimates of how many ventilators it can build at what price, and has not settled on any numbers, according to Brooks. That could slow Ventec’s efforts to ramp up production because it doesn’t know how many breathing machines it must build, he said.
Trump’s action came just after a series of tweets attacking GM, alleging that the company promised to build thousands more breathing machines than it can deliver for coronavirus patients and that it wants too much money for them.
“As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” Trump wrote on Twitter, adding that the company promised 40,000 ventilators quickly but now says it will build only 6,000 in late April. Trump also tweeted that Ford should start making ventilators fast.
The move escalated a feud involving the president, GM, several governors and medical experts over the severity of the crisis and just how many ventilators will be needed to handle it.

His Remarks Contradicted Medical Experts

Experts say the U.S. is hundreds of thousands of breathing machines short of what it likely will need to treat a rapidly rising number of COVID-19 patients. New York, Michigan, Louisiana and the state of Washington have been singled out as virus hot spots in the U.S.
The series of tweets came just hours after Trump, during a Fox News interview Thursday night, said he had “a feeling” that the number of ventilators being requested to handle the virus was too high. GM said it is offering resources to Ventec “at cost.”
In the Fox interview, Trump questioned whether the number of ventilators requested by hospitals was exaggerated: “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump said.
“I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators,” he continued. “You know, you’re going to major hospitals sometimes, they’ll have two ventilators. And now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, ‘can we order 30,000 ventilators?’”
His remarks contradicted medical experts and apparently were aimed at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been pleading for 30,000 more ventilators to handle an expected surge in critical virus patients during the next three weeks.
“When the president says the state of New York doesn’t need 30,000 ventilators, with all due respect to him, he’s not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth of this crisis,” said New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

California Searchers Pull Off High-Altitude Rescue of Missing Hiker

DON'T MISS

Judge Grants Fresno Temporary Win in Federal Grant DEI Dispute

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Asks US Supreme Court to Halt Foreign Aid Payments

DON'T MISS

Hamas Challenges Israeli Account of Gaza Hospital Casualties

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Set to Hire Deputy Superintendent With Impressive Credentials

DON'T MISS

Meta to Launch California Super PAC Backing Pro-AI Candidates

DON'T MISS

Poll: Californians Overwhelmingly Reject Trump’s Immigration Policies

DON'T MISS

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

DON'T MISS

Leaked Audio Reveals Ex-Israeli Intelligence Chief Calling Gaza Deaths ‘Necessary’

DON'T MISS

Texas GOP Congressional Candidate Burns Quran With Flamethrower

UP NEXT

Poll: Californians Overwhelmingly Reject Trump’s Immigration Policies

UP NEXT

Texas GOP Congressional Candidate Burns Quran With Flamethrower

UP NEXT

California High-Speed Rail Project Hit With New $175 Million Cut

UP NEXT

Poll: Katie Porter Holds Early Edge in California Governor’s Race

UP NEXT

Just 38% of Americans Support Trump’s Use of Troops to Police DC, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

UP NEXT

US to Seek Death Penalty in Washington D.C. Homicide Cases, Trump Says

UP NEXT

Coarsegold Elementary Briefly Locked Down After Student Brings Starter Pistol

UP NEXT

HHS Asks 46 States and Territories to Remove ‘Gender Ideology’ Content From Sex Ed Materials

UP NEXT

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

UP NEXT

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

Hamas Challenges Israeli Account of Gaza Hospital Casualties

6 hours ago

Fresno Unified Set to Hire Deputy Superintendent With Impressive Credentials

6 hours ago

Meta to Launch California Super PAC Backing Pro-AI Candidates

7 hours ago

Poll: Californians Overwhelmingly Reject Trump’s Immigration Policies

7 hours ago

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

7 hours ago

Leaked Audio Reveals Ex-Israeli Intelligence Chief Calling Gaza Deaths ‘Necessary’

8 hours ago

Texas GOP Congressional Candidate Burns Quran With Flamethrower

8 hours ago

Madera County Authorities Arrest Army Sergeant in Child Sexual Abuse Material Investigation

8 hours ago

California High-Speed Rail Project Hit With New $175 Million Cut

8 hours ago

Poll: Katie Porter Holds Early Edge in California Governor’s Race

9 hours ago

California Searchers Pull Off High-Altitude Rescue of Missing Hiker

A hiker missing since Aug. 16 was located and evacuated Tuesday, Aug. 19, during a multi-agency search-and-rescue operation near Cottonwood ...

4 hours ago

On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, a hiker missing since August 16 was safely located and evacuated near Cottonwood Lakes during a multi-agency search and rescue operation. (Kern County SO)
4 hours ago

California Searchers Pull Off High-Altitude Rescue of Missing Hiker

Fresno City Gavel Lawsuit
5 hours ago

Judge Grants Fresno Temporary Win in Federal Grant DEI Dispute

People walk across the plaza of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. (Reuters File)
6 hours ago

Trump Administration Asks US Supreme Court to Halt Foreign Aid Payments

People walk at the site of Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital where Palestinian cameraman Hussam al-Masri, who was a contractor for Reuters, was killed along with other journalists and people, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in this still image taken from video, August 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
6 hours ago

Hamas Challenges Israeli Account of Gaza Hospital Casualties

FUSD Fresno Unified employment agreement Ben Drati
6 hours ago

Fresno Unified Set to Hire Deputy Superintendent With Impressive Credentials

7 hours ago

Meta to Launch California Super PAC Backing Pro-AI Candidates

7 hours ago

Poll: Californians Overwhelmingly Reject Trump’s Immigration Policies

7 hours ago

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend