This undated photo shows 3M in St. Paul, Minn. Minnesota officials will soon try to convince a jury that manufacturer 3M Co. should pay the state $5 billion to help clean up environmental damage that the state alleges was caused by pollutants the company dumped for decades. The long-awaited trial begins Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, in Minneapolis. (Marlin Levison/Star Tribune via AP)

Outrage is now growing after it became known that manufacturing company 3M is still selling masks to foreign countries while American doctors and nurses can’t get their hands on them. This was covered last night on Tucker Carlson’s show, who brought on a representative from Florida’s emergency management team to discuss the issue.

In the clip, you’ll see Jared Moskowitz describe that it’s not just about cost at this point, but that they can’t even get the masks right now.

https://twitter.com/alx/status/1245875234315669505

The situation being described by Moskowitz is stunning.

He’s being told by 3M’s distributors, which 3M has total leverage over, that foreign countries are showing up with cash and that the supply is being sold out from under American states and hospitals in need. Further, those distributors are using that increase in demand to raise prices and essentially sell to the highest bidder. This again puts foreign countries in the driver’s seat as American localities typically have to account for how much they are spending per unit.

For their part, 3M responded with this comment.

3M:

There are “humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier .. In addition, ceasing all export of respirators produced in the [US] would likely cause other countries to retaliate ..”

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) April 3, 2020

Some conservatives will claim that 3M is right and that this is a necessary part of our free trade system. I say that’s nonsense because those same conservatives are currently telling us how extraordinary this situation is, how highly restrictive measures must be put in place, and how leading us into a depression is a necessary evil to stop the spread of this virus.

If American citizens can be told to shelter in place, lose their jobs, and have their lives largely destroyed, I think an American company can be told to prioritize American doctors and nurses in order to stop the spread in the United States. There should be no situation where your average citizen is asked to sacrifice more than a multi-billion dollar corporation. For too long, conservatives have been asked to swallow that pill and I don’t think people are buying it anymore.

If 3M cares so much about Latin America and Canada they are welcome to go headquarter their company there

As for retaliation, that is a matter for concern of the US Government https://t.co/KhEmXuoCZe

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) April 3, 2020

Call that non-conservative, populist, or whatever. I don’t really care at this point. The right thing to do is to get the supplies to our doctors and nurses without delay. If that means another country with cash, trying to buy supplies out from under Americans is turned away, so be it. 3M needs to get control of this situation now or they will pay a steep price down the road.