Facing medical supply shortages, Trump invokes wartime law that could give government authority over private manufacturing
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday said he would invoke the Defense Production Act, a law that gives the federal government sweeping power to ramp up manufacturing capacity during a national crisis, as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The law could allow the president to effectively force private companies to manufacture specific goods necessary to the government’s efforts to stem the pandemic. Already, health experts have expressed concerns about shortages of drugs and of personal protective equipment that medical workers rely on to deliver care.
