Germany Cries Foul Over Berlin-Bound Masks Diverted to U.S.
April 03 2020 - 3:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Bojan Pancevski
BERLIN -- German officials said a shipment of face masks
destined for Germany was seized at Bangkok airport and diverted to
the U.S. in an act of "modern piracy" -- the latest accusation that
the Trump administration is throwing its weight around in the
global scramble to secure scarce protective equipment needed in the
fight against coronavirus infections.
In March, Germany's government accused President Trump of trying
to persuade a local biotech firm in an advanced stage of developing
a coronavirus vaccine to relocate its research teams to the U.S.
and grant the country exclusivity on a future vaccine.
The incidents come amid a global crunch in the market for
medical protection equipment, as countries scramble to procure
masks and other items that are essential to protect medical staff
and others from becoming infected when treating Covid-19
patients.
The Berlin regional government said on Friday 200,000 FFP2
respirators -- the high-quality masks, known in the U.S. under the
designation N95, that protect from viral infections -- ordered from
a U.S. manufacturer had been "confiscated" in Bangkok and never
reached their destination. It said it believed the incident was
related to U.S. threats to ban the export of medical masks.
The U.S. Embassy in Berlin declined to comment. The White House
didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The statement from Berlin authorities didn't provide any further
detail or say when the incident happened. But a Berlin official
said the masks were manufactured by U.S. company 3M's factory in
China and were part of a total order of 400,000 pieces. The
official said U.S. officials had confiscated the shipment while it
was in transit in Thailand.
In a short statement, Berlin Interior Minister Andreas Geisel
called the incident an act of "modern piracy." Berlin Mayor Michael
Müller, a Social Democrat, said "the actions of the U.S. president
are...inhumane and unacceptable."
"Even in times of global crisis, methods from the Wild West
should not become prevalent," Mr. Geisel said.
A spokesman for the German government, which has its seat in
Berlin, declined to comment on the accusations. "America's behavior
since the crisis started has been positively rabid when it comes to
medical supplies," one federal official said.
This is the second time in just over two weeks that German
authorities have accused the Trump administration of foul play in
their efforts to stem the pandemic. German cabinet ministers said
Washington had tried to get the biotech firm CureVac AG, which is
working on a vaccine against the novel virus, to relocate to the
U.S.
A U.S. official said at the time that the story was blown out of
proportion.
"The U.S. government has spoken with more than 25 companies that
claim they can help with a vaccine," the official said. "We will
continue to talk to any company that claims to be able to help. And
any solution found would be shared with the world."
CureVac dismissed the German accusations in a statement. Its
chief executive, who had met Mr. Trump in the White House days
before the claims surfaced in Berlin, was replaced without
explanation and hasn't responded to attempts to contact him
since.
--Alex Leary in Washington contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2020 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)
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