Freeland didn't respond directly to questions about possible retaliatory measures Canada may consider, but said she spoke Thursday night with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and emphasized that Canadian doctors and nurses living in Windsor cross the U.S. border daily to work in Detroit. "Our government … is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend the national interest," she said. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also spoken with Lighthizer about the issue.

Freeland said Canada has enough supplies for the moment, but will need more in the coming days. An official working for Procurement Minister Anita Anand confirmed to POLITICO that Canada has placed orders for more than 65 million N95 masks, but would not say how many were to come from 3M, nor how many other suppliers Canada has approached. The official said Anand spoke with the head of 3M Canada Friday morning, but would not confirm whether the company will still fill Canadian orders.

The news comes as Ottawa tries to ramp up domestic production of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus, including masks, ventilators and test kits, in the face of growing global demand for the supplies. However, Canada currently does not produce N95 masks, and there are no immediate plans to start manufacturing the respirators domestically.

The official said 11 million surgical and N95 masks were delivered across Canada this week, including N95 masks manufactured in China.

On Thursday, the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to demand more N95 respirators from 3M, and the White House has cited concerns that not enough of 3M’s global production is coming back to the U.S. In a tweet Thursday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House “hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks” and said the company “will have a big price to pay!”

But the company says it has been working since the start of the pandemic to ramp up mask production. In an interview with CNBC, 3M CEO Mike Roman said the company doubled production in January, long before there were demands for more supplies in the U.S. “The narrative we aren’t doing everything we can as a company is just not true,” he said.

In the news release, 3M said the White House has asked the company to increase the number of respirators it imports from overseas operations into the U.S. “We appreciate the assistance of the administration to do exactly that,” the company said.

