Trump compelled these companies to make critical supplies, but most of them were already doing it

The conglomerate was among the six firms Trump included in his Thursday order. 

In March, the company announced that its health-care unit is scrambling to increase production of equipment including ventilators, patient monitors, CTs and mobile X-ray devices to meet increasing demand from hospitals and other facilities fighting the pandemic.

Ford Motor Co., which faced pressure from Trump to ramp up production in response to the outbreak, and GE Healthcare announced on Monday that the companies would team up to produce 50,000 ventilators at a facility in Michigan. 

Trump in a March 27 tweet urged Ford to “GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST,” though so far he has not invoked the DPA against that carmaker.

Production of the critical-care devices is expected to begin with 500 United Auto Workers union members the week of April 20, according to executives at both companies. Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, will be able to produce 30,000 ventilators a month after early July, officials said.

Ford and GE expect to produce 1,500 by the end of April, 12,000 by the end of May and 50,000 by July 4, officials said.

“We are really excited and applaud Ford, how quickly it’s mobilized its manufacturing facilities to address the challenges we all face with COVID-19,” Tom Westrick, vice president and chief quality officer of GE Healthcare, said during a call Monday afternoon with media.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-trump-used-defense-production-act-on-these-companies-so-far.html