Update:Trump orders GM to begin making ventilators under Defense Production Act

President Donald Trump took aim at General Motors and Ford Motor Co. in a Twitter rant Friday morning.

It set off a chain of events with GM confirming it will start building ventilators in April, but then later in the afternoon, Trump activating the Defense Production Act, telling his administration to require GM to prioritize contracts to produce the breathing machines to fight the spreading coronavirus.

Trump tweeted just before noon a demand that the carmakers start making critical-care ventilators immediately.

Minutes after the tweets, GM made it official that it will build the ventilators at its Kokomo, Indiana, plant with FDA-cleared ventilators scheduled to ship as soon as next month. GM said that is in addition to medical device manufacturer Ventec LIfe System's ramp up at its factory in Bothell, Washington.

Also, GM will begin manufacturing FDA-cleared surgical masks at its Warren facility, which used to make transmissions but was idled as part of a restructuring last year.

Production will start next week and within two weeks ramp up to 50,000 masks per day, with the potential to increase to 100,000 per day. GM will do the job using about 1,000 paid volunteers from hourly employees across the plants and has the UAW's support.

GM CEO Mary Barra said since partnering with Ventec on March 20, GM's employees in all areas have "moved mountains to find real solutions to save lives and fight the pandemic" in seven days.

Provoking tweets

But in a string of tweets, Trump ranted: "As usual with 'this' General Motors, things just never seem to work out. They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, 'very quickly'. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B. Invoke “P”."

He then tweeted, "General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!!"

Trump then explained, "Invoke “P” means Defense Production Act!"

Lordstown revisted

It wasn't immediately clear what Trump meant by bringing up the Defense Production Act. He has already invoked its authority during the recent coronavirus crisis but, so far, his administration had taken no steps toward formally ordering privately held firms to begin producing supplies or prioritize government contracts.

He told reporters on Sunday that the threat of invoking it seemed to be working, raising the possibility that the president's posts on Twitter might be intended in the same way and stopping short of ordering productions. "We're a country not based on nationalizing our businesses," Trump said on Sunday.

The Lordstown comment refers to GM's decision in November 2019 to permanently idle its factory in Lordstown, Ohio, that had built the Chevrolet Cruze compact car.

At the time, Trump had urged GM CEO Mary Barra to change her mind and keep it open, but the last Cruze rolled off the line around this time last year.

GM has since sold the facility to electric truck maker Lordstown Motors.

More:GM sells its Lordstown Assembly plant to electric truck start-up

'Pulling out all the stops'

A Washington-based spokeswoman for Ford's government affairs, Rachel McCleery said, in reaction to Trump's tweets, “Ford is pulling out all the stops to quickly and safely provide vitally needed equipment for patients, first responders and health-care workers."

"We have started delivering tens of thousands of Ford-produced face shields to hospitals and police agencies, including the NYPD," McCleery said. "We have teams working flat-out with GE Healthcare to boost production of simplified ventilators, and with 3M to increase the production of powered air-purifying respirators. Ford is in active conversations with the administration, seeking guidance about approvals, scope and distribution relating to a series of products, including ventilators."

Ford will provide more detail on timing and production figures as soon as possible, McCleery said.

1,000 GM workers called to duty

GM sent out a news release after the tweets announcing it will build the ventilators at its Kokomo plant. It said it is donating its resources at cost and Ventec and GM are working around the clock to meet the urgent need for more ventilators.

The companies said, depending on the needs of the federal government, they are ready to deliver the first ventilators next month and ramp up to a manufacturing capacity of more than 10,000 critical-care ventilators per month with the infrastructure and capability to scale further.

“We are proud to stand with other American companies and our skilled employees to meet the needs of this global pandemic,” said Barra in a statement. “This partnership has rallied the GM enterprise and our global supply base to support Ventec, and the teams are working together with incredible passion and commitment.”

GM said it will deploy about 1,000 workers to scale production of the ventilators immediately. It has worked with the UAW to bring in employees from the Kokomo plant, where it normally makes electronic components, and Marion Metal Center in Marion, Indiana.

UAW is all in

Separately, GM is temporarily converting its Warren plant to make surgical masks starting next week. It will make 50,000 masks per day within two weeks, with the potential to increase to 100,000 per day, GM said. The daily production depends on the availability of materials.

GM is delivering the necessary machinery to the Warren plant Friday, it said. The "employee-led initiative was created, planned and approved in about 48 hours," GM said in a statement. It involves GM’s traditional supply base and new partnerships specific to the medical device industry. GM will be collaborating with governments and local suppliers to distribute the masks.

GM had suspended its production at its North American assembly plants as of last week to protect workers’ health. Kokomo and Marion will restart

The UAW said it is “all in” to support GM noting that members are doing the work on a voluntary basis and all Centers for Disease Control guidelines will be stringently followed in the plants.

“We are happy to work with GM during this pandemic for the health and safety and good of our Nation as we collaborate towards the production of ventilators,” said Terry Dittes, UAW vice president of the GM Department. “The UAW has a proud history of stepping up in times of national emergency. General Motors should be commended for stepping up at a crucial moment in our history. At the UAW we are — all in — to find ways to partner together to flatten this curve and save lives.”

Trump went on to tweet that the government has "just purchased many Ventilators from some wonderful companies. Names and numbers will be announced later today!"

Last Friday, GM announced it was partnering with medical device company Ventec Life Systems to speed up production of ventilators as coronavirus proliferates across the nation.

More:GM picks 2 suppliers, considers building ventilators at Indiana plant

Earlier this week, Ford said it will join the effort to "speed production" of respirators by collaborating with 3M to manufacture "Powered Air-Purifying Respirators." The two are working on a "new design leveraging parts from both companies," a statement said.

It is possible Ford will produce the new respirator in a Ford facility in Michigan.

Ford engineers are playing a key role in the effort, and using parts that are currently used in the F-150 pickup.

More:Ford partnering to make respirators, plastic face shields to fight coronavirus

Staff writer Phoebe Wall Howard and Todd Spangler contributed to this report. Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.