22:13

After many delays, and then a series of tweets earlier today, US President Donald Trump is invoking the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to built ventilators for hospitals, he announced at the White House’s daily coronavirus briefing.

The Defense Production Act gives the president powers to direct domestic industrial production to provide essential materials and goods needed in a national security crisis. It allows the president to require businesses and corporations to prioritize and accept contracts for required materials and services.

While Trump likes to work cooperatively with the private sector, he said, “Where an emergency exists and it’s very important that we get to the bottom line and quickly, we will do what we have to do.”

“It’s been a brutal pandemic,” Trump said at the beginning of the briefing.

Read more from the White House briefing in our US liveblog: