White House reaches deal with 3M over mask production

President Donald Trump on Monday said that 3M would produce 166.5 million masks over the next three months, cementing a commitment from a company the administration had blamed for exacerbating a shortage for health workers responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have reached an agreement, a very amicable agreement, with 3M,” Trump announced. “The 3M saga ends very happily.”

“This will go a long way toward solving the mask issue if not solve it completely,” said one official involved in the negotiations. The new 3M masks are overwhelmingly N95 and KN95 masks and will go toward frontline workers, the official said.

The White House and 3M had sparred in recent days over accusations the mask-maker was prioritizing sales to other countries. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday in an effort to ramp 3M’s production.

“We're very disappointed in 3M,” Trump complained on Saturday. “They should be taking care of our country. And they can sell to others, but they should be taking care of our country.”

Last week, the Trump administration requested 3M stop exporting mask supplies to Canada and Latin American markets, an action that 3M cautioned would result in retaliatory measures by other countries.

“If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease,” 3M said in a statement last week. “That is the opposite of what we and the Administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek.”

3M will continue sending U.S.-produced respirators to Canada and Latin America, where the company is the primary source of supply.