General Discussion

stillcool

(32,626 posts) Fri Mar 27, 2020, 06:06 PM Mar 2020

Something that may have slipped...

through the cracks

Trump privately appeals to Asia and Europe for medical help to fight coronavirus
Despite president’s rhetoric that the US would not rely on foreign nations for help, the administration has approached European and Asian partners
Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 24 Mar 2020 20.51 EDT
Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 13.49 EDT

On Tuesday, Trump spoke by phone with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, asking if his country could supply medical equipment.
The official White House account made no mention of the request, but according to the South Korean presidency, the Blue House, the call was made at Trump’s “urgent request”.
Trump praised the South Korean testing programme, which has helped contain the outbreak there. Moon told Trump that he would support South Korean exports of critical supplies to the US “if there is a domestic surplus”.

Foreign Policy reported that the third-ranking diplomat in the state department, David Hale, had asked for a list of countries that might be able to sell “critical medical supplies and equipment” to the US.
“Depending on critical needs, the United States could seek to purchase many of these items in the hundreds of millions with purchases of higher end equipment such as ventilators in the hundreds of thousands,” an email sent to embassies in Europe and Eurasia said.
The email underlined that the request applied to host countries “minus Moscow

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/trump-privately-appeals-to-asia-and-europe-for-medical-help-to-fight-coronavirus