The Trudeau government is looking to the relationships it established during NAFTA negotiations to resolve the new urgent dispute over personal protective equipment with the United States.
The Trudeau government is looking to the relationships it established during NAFTA negotiations to resolve the urgent dispute over personal protective equipment with the United States.
According to senior sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Canadian politicians at different levels, and of different political stripes, will and have been reaching out to contacts in the U.S. to make Canada’s case to keep the flow of essential goods moving.
At the core of this push, sources say, is the prime minister’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, who is trying to leverage her relationship with the president’s son-in-law and special advisor Jared Kushner.
The overtures come after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to force Minnesota-based 3M to prioritize orders from the U.S. government for N95 respirators, at the expense of foreign orders. The protective masks are used by front-line health care workers battling the novel coronavirus.
When Canadian officials reach out to their American counterparts or contacts, they will highlight the fact that the Canada-U.S. medical supply chain is highly integrated, one source said. For example, the pulp used to make gowns and masks by 3M comes from Nanaimo, B.C.
Also, there are 1,200 medical workers who travel from Windsor,