Trump: "Go for it auto execs, let's see how good you are?"

E

arlier today, President Trump gave his approval for Ford, General Motors and Tesla to produce much-needed ventilators during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Trump Tweeted that the auto companies will be permitted to “make ventilators and other metal products, FAST!”

Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST! @fema Go for it auto execs, lets see how good you are? @RepMarkMeadows @GOPLeader @senatemajldr — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2020

Trump signed the Defense Production Act last week which allows his administration to request certain American companies to manufacture much needed medical supplies during a crisis. Trump said he was putting the law “into gear” but it remained unclear to what extent he was using the order.

The Defense Production Act, or DPA, is a law dating back to the Cold War, allows for the control of the production and distribution of scarce materials deemed “essential to the national defense.”

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said on Twitter, that he had a “long engineering” discussion with the company Medtronic, a medical device maker.

Just had a long engineering discussion with Medtronic about state-of-the-art ventilators. Very impressive team! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2020

The blog CleanTechnica reached out to Musk directly on Friday who responded, “We have 250k N95 masks. Aiming to start distributing those to hospitals tomorrow night. Should have over 1000 ventilators by next week.”

General Motors announced it was partnering with Ventec Life Systems to increase the production of its respiratory care systems, rather than manufacturing ventilators on its own.