just a little while ago president trump invoked the defense production act, for the first time requiring general motors to produce ventilators to deal with the increasing number of hospitalizations. the u.s. leads the world in the number of cases, close to 100,000 and more than 1,500 deaths. worldwide, more than 586,000 cases in about 150 countries and almost 27,000 deaths. also tonight there is growing concern about emerging outbreaks in major american cities including detroit, new orleans, chicago, miami, dallas, atlanta, and philadelphia. our national correspondent erica hill begins our coverage this hour from new york. erica, first of all, california is also now reporting a very significant number of new cases. >> reporter: yes, a sharp surge, wolf, up 26% in just 24 hours. california now has 3,801 cases. they've had 78 deaths. as these numbers are coming in, we're waiting to hear from mayor bill de blasio in new york city. we're expecting an update on the numbers here in the city. behind me, elmhurst hospital has been dealing with this. they are strapped. in the last 48 hours there

to use it because no one has said no millions of mass coming as a backup to states now the defense production act which was signed into law back in 1950 during the korean war gives the federal government the authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of national defense that lets the president use loans and other incentives to boost production of materials and it has been invoked during war natural disasters and as a response to terrorism while the defense production act does not fully nationalize private companies it does give the president the power to force companies to prioritize government contracts trump previously claimed he did not need to invoke the d.p.a. because companies like ford general motors and tesla were already shifting their priorities to make ventilators and other metal products in response to the coronavirus pandemic but while the shifts in production could take months to come about some lawmakers and state officials argue that the u.s. should have invoked the d.p.a. long ago because the federal government has more leverage when it comes to their purchasing

to a wartime president in the fight against coronavirus he says he will move to invoke the defense production act a measure that would allow the government to force us industry to speed up the production of critical medical equipment has more from the president's press conference. and to this day nobody seen anything like that what they were able to do during world war 2 and now it's our time we must sacrifice together because we are all in this together and we'll come through together it's the invisible enemy it's always the toughest enemy the invisible enemy but we're going to defeat the invisible enemy i think we're going to do it even faster than we thought. and it will be a complete victory it will be as mentioned in that report donald trump made a major announcement about what's going to happen in the u.s. a reporter publicly as has been following this could you simplify what this defense production act and tails what donald trump is chasing well basically defense production acts permits president trump to essentially order manufacturing industries to produce a in this case medical supp

the president invoked the defense production act to prioritize production of items under government contracts and to allocate scarce items where they are needed most. >> they have millions of masks which are coming and which will be distributed to the states. >> reporter: but it's not clear if the administration has actually required companies to make these products as the defense production act allows. also, in short supply, ventilator vital for the most severe cases. trump says the administration does have an emergency stockpile

so, this, this dpa, defense production act is not going to change anything but the problem was, they were in a nacent production line. to your point, it takes time to get it up and get it going to scale. so, that's important to realize. i mean, dr. shaftner, what do you make of the doctor that erica spoke to in her piece saying we just don't know if it's a category 5 storm and we are in the outer bands, right? as opposed to we are right by the eye or closes to it and as bad as it gets. do you agree with that analogy at this point? >> well, he certainly is in the middle of a hurricane already. he is worrying about how bad it's going to get and we think it will get worse before we turn that corner and it does get better. and this is happening all across the country. here in my own hospital, we are seeing a steady increasing stream of patients coming in, suspected of or diagnosed with covid. and that, that is also increasing. we are not anywhere like new york. but, i would imagine my colleagues around the country are seeing the same thing. so, the next two, three weeks, are really going

and president trump said today he's invoking the defense production act. explain to our viewers what exactly that means. >> reporter: well basically it gives the president emergency powers to go and tell private companies they need to ramp up production of a certain product to protect national defense. typically used for military equipment, in that nature. this is a chance where we could see it used for something like medical equipment which we're hearing from hospitals that they say is in short supply. but the president said, quote, just in case we need it is the reason why he's signing it today. those certainly health experts said they do need it. >> and president trump also said that the u.s. is securing more ventilators but you asked a very important question, you tried to ask what is taking him so long to invoke the defense production act, which people have been calling for him to do for weeks and, indeed, what has taken so long for him to be serious as he is now. >> reporter: the vend lators are crucial and they will help save lives and if they don't

act and tails what donald trump is chasing well basically defense production acts permits president trump to essentially order manufacturing industries to produce a in this case medical supplies or medical supplies go to hospital mosques and protective gear for medical workers at to deal with this covert 19 crisis so what this act basically it allows the president to have sort of special powers basically and it was something that dates back to 1950 it's been used before in the united states plenty of times but also what's interesting with president truman perhaps also not very shocking in some ways is that he's tweeted this evening a message which is sort of contradicted what he was saying earlier he said that he only signed the defense production act to come but once again he's used this term the chinese virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario now of course saying a worst case scenario based on the situation in the united states has perplexed many americans will say and he has also mentioned deploying naval warships to the east and west coast why is that being do

president has also invokes the defense production act which will force companies to produce much needed medical equipment this afternoon to invoke the defense production act to compel general motors to accept reform in prioritize federal contracts for ventilators ventilators are a big deal and we've delivered thousands of them and oftentimes you don't need ventilate is very much ospital zone have very many and now we're turning out that we have to produce large numbers but we've been able to do that and we're going to be doing a lot more and here's the global picture with the johns hopkins university track that are nearly 596000 confirmed infections but with a lack of testing the real number is likely to be much higher more than 27000 people have died almost 131000 have recovered al-jazeera israel brunell's begins our coverage from los angeles. the u.s. navy hospital ship mercy sailed into los angeles harbor equipped with 1000 hospital beds and 800 medical staffers they will treat patients who do not have coded 19 freeing up space at l.a. hospitals for an expected surge of coronavirus c

on the defense production act, thepresident has activated defense production act, but not initiated action underneath it. as the president brought together leaders of business and mr. president, you talked about the spirit to ramp up to meet the needs of health care providers. yetpresident has not exercised his authority under the defense production act. ishink the perception american industry is stepping forward aggressively. make morentinue to ppe available. president trump: for everyone, the country has stepped up. i don't think we have seen it in decades. it is incredible how they stepped up. thank you, charlie. next governor. >> this is larry hogan. iswant to thank you for ths call today and the great communication you had with governors. thank you for signing the second stimulus and for your ongoing efforts to mitigate the economic impact. thank you for appointing vice president pence. he has been terrific in reaching out to us. yesterday we had a meeting of governors. getting bombarded by different questions. we tried to consolidate them to a group of concerns. last night with the w

the tricky part about invoking the defense production act, as with many other things, the devil is inng used to try and incentivize the production of ventilators. with a company like gm, it's no small feat to move your production from cars to ventilators. a company like ford announced earlier this week they were figuring out some way to juriry rig fans that are normally used for the cooling seats in their trucks, but that's significantly different from retooling completely to make ventilators. so this is going to take time for everyone to figure out. >> and in the meantime, shortly after invoking the defense production act, the president had this to say. it was interesting. take a listen. >> so we did activate it with respect to general motors and hopefully maybe we won't even need the full activation. we'll find out. but we need the ventilators. >> seems like an about turn for many people. is the administration is using the act or not? why does it seem a little muddled? >> well, the executive order and the statements put out indicated that the president was asking the department of h

to invoke the defense production act for g.m. to come forward and make these ventilators so. clearly he was not happy with the pace of progress of those negotiations this gives washington d.c. the administration more power to tell companies what to do how many ventilators they must make and give them deadlines and so on and so forth apparently the negotiations weren't going the way the president wanted and so he now has this extra incentive behind him to get what he wants and what he thinks the country needs ok chris a slew of they're joining us from new york thank you. so to come on this news hour from london. student volunteers step up in sudan as the transitional government in its it will struggle to deal with the launch cone of on a site break. and saving lives in cheap plastic raincoats indonesia's health care workers are forced to school late protection. my. police in south africa have been struggling to enforce a 21 day nationwide locked am which came into force at midnight local time one person has died in the western cape province the country's 1st under south africa

so, anyway, on a serious note, let me give you a little idea of the defense production act and why it is so important. we're engaged in the most significant industrial mobilization since world war ii. we have a war time president, fighting an invisible enemy and will the full force of government, cofuer of private e president trump's order with respect to general motors, i want to give you a little background on that. we need industrial mobilization to make adequate to help the people of new york, detroit, new orleans, chicago, denver, seattle, all around this country as this virus bears f patients who become most seriously ill. they're literally the lifeline for people. and i personally have been working with fema, and i've been working with hhs and over ten ventilator companies, making sure we can get what we need as quickly as possible. and virtually every one of those companies has been cooperative, patriotic, moving in trump time, which is to say as soon as possible, sir, but we did have a problem with gm and inventech. we had ge and ford moving forward, moving as fast as possibl

of defense production act when he get worse.hen things and i'm of the posture that you the to use the authority of defense production act before things get worse because you res parrots respirators ventilators overnight. i think the voluntary commitments from the private great, but without knowing what's required or meeting it's difficult to know whether we're meeting the so i would advise the u.s. government to be transparent and say all right, we are preparing for a potential severe pandemic. what is the gap? amount of supplies needed? what are the specifications of those plays? the private ask sector voluntarily can you meet this? i suspect the supply and the not there and that's why invoking the full authorities of the defense production act right now are absolutely critical. in terms of congress it's congress comet together in a bipartisan manner to pass this next stimulus just did with the second emergency appropriation a couple ago.eks all of these, in fact, are public health interventions, even though we don't talk about the socialll distancing, whether it's whetherment assist

the defense production act is a 1950s era korean war effort that would allow the president to simply order the american companies in many cases to begin making essential equipment there's been a lot of speculation he could do that with ventilators in dire need around the country he's resisted saying he doesn't want to order companies do anything he thinks the free market will take care of that. now it seems like the president is turning with all those exclamation points an capital letters you get the sense that the president is frustrated and angry about the situation and does not want to be on the receiving end of any political blame. he wants to point the finger at these companies for not moving fast enough. >> eamon, to that point, the defense production act is complicated. there's different pieces and tiers of that act as well and he's been resistant to maybe a broader implementation or invocation of it, but meantime you do have officials within the administration, my talks with officials in the pentagon, who are gearing up and getting ready to be a part of this defense productio

this is what the defense production act was set up for. we could just turn this switch and it would be faster, correct me if i'm wrong, than searching the globe for this equipment? >> well, i think that it would have been faster. we should definitely still do it. this is not a -- this is a marathon, not a sprint, this pandemic. but, at this point where we are is we can't just turn the switch and reconfigure production all over the country. we should have turned that switch weeks ago. but, that doesn't mean we shouldn't turn it now and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't have a centralized approach for working with companies. and what i'm seeing from the outside is that it looks like more piecemeal approach where specific companies are placing calls or people are placing calls to company but that there isn't a centralized coordinated mechanism like we could gather under the defense production act to figure out the needs and systemically work on filling them. that is what's missing. and we have the logistics capability, the best logistics capa

when we talk about the defense production act, it isn't just about manufacturing. thing that the president could do is step in and really streamline that distribution. it would go through the federal government, to each of the places that need it the most. they kwould be able to essentially list where it's needed most and ensure those places got those supplies. as it stands now, you have 50 states not only competing with one another but also competing with the federal government, who is trying to stock up on supplies so they can get their orders out, and in some cases actually competing with hospitals that it in line trying to get orders out to their it health care workers on the ground. right now it's an all over the place type system. there is no streamline in place and, wolf, we'll ask about that today, asking why it is that at least this aspect of the defense production act isn't put into play. >> be anxious to hear what the president announces later at this breaching and look forward to hearing that. of course, we'll have live coverage of that coming up. krist

. >> yesterday president trump invoked the defense production act. he's requiring general motors to produce more ventilators. a source at the company told cnn the act doesn't change their manassas insisting gm was already offering to produce ventilators across the one. >> supply shortages is one of the biggest hurdles while emerging hot spots, chicago, detroit, new orleans seeing rapid increase in cases. officials say they don't have enough of those resources. >> hospitals in new york are saying they are overwhelmed. more than 44,000 cases have been reported. the state's governor warning they may be weeks away from hitting its peak. i want to begin there with cnn's athena jones who is outside of elmhurst hospital where this week 13 patients died wane 24 hour period. athena, tell us what you're hearing this morning. >> reporter: good morning. as you mentioned governor andrew cuomo said that this state, the state that accounts for almost half of the cases in the whole united states may not reach its peak in coronavirus cases for another 21 days. that's

now the other big question here is the defense production act. you mentioned that, that overall war powers sweeping broad authority like we give president trump the ability to essentially control the supply chain. we have no idea what exactly is going on with that. president trump invoked that on wednesday. then got pushed back from business leaders who said it wasn't necessary. then tweeted out i did invoke it, didn't actually mean to put it into effect. a lot of questions here around what exactly he's going to do. yesterday he said he was going to put that into effect. there are a lot of people who are struggling and a lot of shortages that people need to get access to supplies. >> one more before we let you go. we learned a staffer in vice president pence's office tested positive for the virus. do we know anything about the contact between this staffer and the vice president? >> reporter: well, according to the white house the staffer didn't have any close contact with president trump or vice president pence but this is the first white house s

what i want to talk briefly about is the defense production act. and to give you the overview here, using the full power of private enterprise and the full force of the federal government, my job at the white house is to make sure tactically, working with fema and hhs and the american people, particularly our health care professionals, get the gloves, the masks, and all of the personal protective equipment they need, and i can tell you, sir that since you signed the defense production act, my job has gotten easier, and let me explain why. the defense production act in this context has two primary functions. one is mobilization of the industrial base, in this case, the public health industrial base, and the other is allocation of resources, both from the supply chain to the manufacturers and from the manufacturers to the end users, such as the health care professionals. now, what we're seeing, on a purely voluntary basis, based on the leadership of this administration, we're seeing the greatest mobilization in the industrial base since world war ii.

he's also invoked the defense production act.more can you tell us about what the president has done? >> that's right, judy. the president signed thi historic two t $2 trillion coronavirus sttoulus package aw this afternoon. it's an historic bill, the largest stimulus package ever passed by congress and signed into law by any president.en the pres said he was happy democrats and republicans could come together to get this bill done, butte the president was only surround bid republicans when heigned the bill today, there were no democrats present. the prident is still not speaking to housepeaker nancy pelosi since last year. he invoked the defense production act to allow the federal government to direct american manufacturers to make equipment that the federalay governmentit needs. in this case, the president is invoking that act for one company, general motors, and foq one piece ofipment, ventilators. this comes after governors all over the country have been urgi president trump to invoke the defense production they say they need

that's why i'm calling on the president to immediately exercise the powers authorized by the defense production act to defend the health and safety of the american people in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. while the administration's response has so far lacked the energy this crisis called for, invoking the powers vested in the defense production act will enable the federal government to step up and take the type of aggressive steps needed in this time of uncertainty. it is that act that can give the federal government the power to say, we are going to become, this is my words now, in essence, we're going to become your partner. we want to infuse massive amount of money that we need for the ventilators we need, the personal protective gear we need and if we can't get you to produce it, we're going to produce it. we need to use the power of the federal government to have the type of response that this moment calls for. that this crisis calls for. that's what government in its most significant moment is supposed to be all about. that's really what the federal government is supposed to be ab

president has also invoked the defense production act which will force companies to produce much needed medical equipment. this afternoon i invoke the defense production act to compel general motors to accept reform and prioritize federal contracts for ventilators ventilators are a big deal and we've delivered thousands of them and oftentimes you don't need ventilators very much ospital zone have very many and now we're turning out that we have to produce large numbers but we've been able to do that and we're going to be doing a lot more. and here's a look at the global picture with the johns hopkins university track there are more than 591000 confirmed infections that the 592000 number with a lack of testing the real number is likely to be much higher than 26000 people have died but almost 131000 have recovered it let's go live now to los angeles and soon as rob reynolds is that for us rob president trump gave a press briefing in the last couple of hours what did he say. well he spent a great deal of time adrian talking about the new partnerships or contracts at the us government has c

>> the government is using the defense production act to get people to the table. we've worked with 3m and honeywell. they are at mass production. you don't need to compel someone to do something that they are already doing. and so every single day, there are people looking and saying do we need to compel someone to do this. they're already at max production, already working around the clock. again, we are using the stockpile and fema to get resources out to people who need it. we're finding new and innovative people stepping up and volunteering like haynes. >> but doctor, we're hearing reports of shortages, and you're saying we're at mass production. does that mean shortages are just going to be the way it is? >> we know there are going to be shortages in some areas. it's why i wrote an op-ed calling on people to stop elective surgeries. we need to make sure the supplies are getting to new york, california, washington. we want to make sure we're strategically moving the personal protective equipment and supplies to where it is most needed that's supply and driving

administration describe new steps they're taking to combat the virus today including invoking the defense production act to make more medical gear, deploying medical ships to new york. we just heard the secretary of defense talking about some of that. what else do we need to be doing? >> first of all, we have to have straight talk right now. let's go through that list. the defense production act is a cosmetic act. the companies that could make that equipment have been making it 24/7. there's nothing magic that's going to happen with this. to get a new plant up to manufacture n95 masks takes years, it's not going to happen overnight. the defense department, we welcome any help we can get, but we need 75 million, 2 mill ion number is great but what are we going to do to make a difference, and if it doesn't make a difference, how will we get through? health care workers want to hear about what they'll be able to do, how they'll be protected. you mentioned bringing back retired doctors and nurses, that's not a great idea, and the reason i say that, as much as they can help and surely want to help, they'

the defense production act in this context has two primary functions. one is mobilization of the industrial base. in this case the public health industrial base and the other is allocation of resources both from the supply chain to the manufacturers and from the manufacturers to the end-users such as the health care professionals. now what we're seeing on a purely voluntary basis based on the leadership of this administration, we're seeing the greatest mobilization of the industrial basins world war ii and every day i'm working with organizations and companies, national association of manufacturing, national council of textile organizations and so on in terms of building up rapidly our capabilities to get what you need. think about what mobilization means t can mean, for example, repurposing a factory. perpernot rikard had three hurd, called me last week. made a call to treasury, fda and hhs to clear the path. we got that done that day. they started their production that day, moving from alcoholic beverages to hand sanitizers. as we speak a truck is mov

it's called the defense production act. it allows the government to take control of the supply chain to ensure the u.s. has the necessary equipment they need when the country is in danger. the president signed an executive order invoking the dpa last week, but he didn't implement its power, use its power, until moments ago when he directed general motors to manufacture ventilators. this comes after 100 current and former national security officials released a letter on wednesday urging the president to use the dpa asap. >> joining me now is former secretary of defense chuck hagel. secretary hagel, obviously you're somebody that thought this should have been invoked. you heard the mayor of chicago. this should have been invoked weeks ago, and i'm reading here the company that gm is working with for their kokomo, indiana, plant, ventec, they said they can get up to a capacity of 10,000 ventilators a month, but it ain't going to be this month. mr. secretary, so what is the best way. should this be invoked not as a one-off, but

>> look, if i had a new york state defense production act, i would use it. i don't have it. so what i'm saying is, i'll pay businesses more. i'll fund a new business if you can make these products. i'm trying to make these products. if you were in this line of work, we need masks. if you're making clothing, figure out if you can make masks. i'll fund it. i'm doing everything i can to increase production. that's aside from having people all over the globe trying to buy product. we talked about empire state development, people literally running around china trying to buy product. if i had it, i would use it. >> you've mentioned stockpiles, there's three stockpiles around the state of masks, gloves, things like that, have those been dipped into? are you shipping those around to hospitals in the state? >> we have dipped into those. we are providing them to hospitals around the state and we're working to resupply them. >> can you give us an idea of how many you've shipped? >> i would have to look to give you an exact number. >> the federal government extended -- [ inaudible questi

is now invoking the defense production act to strengthen the response this is important because it will allow the government to make sure that companies in the private sector shift their production lines to emergency medical supplies and of course there are concerns that hospitals will be overwhelmed by patients in the coming weeks and that will mean that they do need more beds for spiritual mosques for medical workers and also ventilators for the patients and actually that was some concern by u.s. health officials that young people of reports of young people in france and italy getting seriously ill next. 'd 'd a lot of them. and anna and i were to my editor has it i mean 'd assuming that. it's very hard. to lose a part just planted a part of your civilization your culture. them today ready. saf not an issue of. which could be one of the new.

with all due respect to the president, the defense production act created in the korean war after allthe wartime production, the b-17s that all the rosie the riveters produced is not socialism, it's not marxism, it's not venezuela. it's very much american to have this act and have it ready for a crisis such as this. >> yeah, that's correct, andrea. and we actually have used it in the past. the defense department has used it. they used it in the korean war. i believe some years back it was used to require the telecommunications industry to share information about foreign sources of some of the equipment. so it's not brand-new. frankly, we should have invoked it some time ago, weeks ago. the challenge is actually coordinating the use of the act to make sure you're allocating your resources in the way that is most efficient. and that requires planning and it also requires having a central coordinating agency, probably in the commerce department, that can see what the requirements are, what the supplies are, how quickly supplies can be increased, and then allocating the supplies among the

this trumpet of ministration is under from the governors from the states he actually used the defense productive production act and ordering g.m. to produce ventilators because again ventilators is what this country needs to save lives that's what the experts say in the coming weeks stefanski months in washington thank you. all right time to take a look now at more of the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic and british prime minister boris johnson has tested positive for coded 19 jumps and says he will be so fossilize in but will continue to lead the fight against the pandemic german chancellor angela merkel and u.s. president donald trump have agreed to explore possible cooperation on combating the corona virus outbreak and zimbabwe has announced a 3 total lockdown to stop on monday the measures will make life even more difficult for millions in the country which is already myatt in an economic crisis . well meanwhile neighboring south africa has confirmed it's 1st to run the virus deaths and the number of cases has risen to more than $1000.00 the news comes at the start of a 3 wee

the defense production act allows the federal government to direct supplies of critical materials and equipment that hospitals and first responders need. it allows us to mobilize industry to expand production and gives us the power to coordinate industry to respond to this crisis. we need to fully use all the powers provided under this law and that is why i am so glad donald trump invoked the power of the defense production act to respond to the coronavirus crisis. i am glad he is exercising it. after my conversation with mike pence, they decided to put this on the agenda for our country. we need to increase private production of life-saving personal protective equipment. medical supplies and devices. and diagnostic testing supplies. we need to combat this viral enemy, we need to activate our capable and talented domestic industry and bring the full weight of the federal government behind this effort. we are talking gowns and gloves, face shields, surgical masks, respirators, ventilators, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer's and we do not have nearly enough of this life-saving equi

this trumpet of ministration is under from the governors from the states he actually used the defense productive production act and ordering g.m. to produce ventilators because again ventilators is what this country needs to save lives that's what the experts say in the coming weeks stefanski months in washington thank you. time to take a look now at more of the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic british prime minister barres johnson has tested positive for copd 19 johnson is says he will continue to lead the fight against the penn dimmick spine is in its highest one day rise in virus fatalities with $769.00 people dying in 24 hours and zimbabwe has announced a 3 week total lockdown to stop on monday the measures taken will mike live even more difficult for millions in the country which is already mired in and economic crisis well here in germany there are $49000.00 cases of the infection but the death toll has remained follow up then europe's too hot as he countries italy and spain officials have credited widespread testing with helping to keep germany's mortality right low but th

what i want to talk briefly about is the defense production act. to give you the overview here, using the full power of private enterprise and full force of the federal government my job at the white house is to make sure tactically working with fema and hhs and the american people, particular cle our health care profession get the gloves, the masks and all of the personal protective equipment they need. and i can tell you, sir, that since you have signed the defense production act, my job has gotten easier. and let me explain why. the defense production act in this context has two primary functions. one is mobilization of the industrial base. in this case, the public health industrial base. and the other is allocation of resources, both from the supply chain to the manufacturers and from the manufacturers to the end users such as the health care professionals. now what we are seeing on a purely voluntary basis based on the leadership this administration, we are seeing the greatest mobilization in the industrial base since world war ii. and every d

next, peter navarro who has been appointed the point person on the defense production act is joining us next on the phone. peter, do we have you. >> how are you doing. jeanine: good. we are having some technical difficulties tonight. peter. >> it's one of those things, but it's the least of our worries in this crisis. i've been working all day long, working to make sure that we have enough ventilators and personal protective equipment and we have a real challenge ahead judge, but i tell you what, under the leadership of president trump we have the full force of the federal government, the full power of the private sector working together as americans with a full cooperation's of america, spain is at home doing their social distancing. >> but peter, but what i want to talk about is something specific. my antennas went up last night when i heard the president speaking about general motors and mary and the fact that so many corporations came out in their own financial, it wasn't to their advantage to help their fellow americans out, and then all of a sudden we hear about general motors,

>> there is nothing that has been exercised with regard to the defense production act. every day of pounded the table on the defense production act to make sure that the president is doing what he can do and is not doing everything he can to break he talked about hoarding and price gouging as a reason why he had signed the defense production act executive order but nothing has been enacted so when we are out in the marketplace we are not seen any order to the markets. that is what we want is order. we are willing to pay reasonable prices for the goods that are made here in the united states that will save people's lives but what we can't do is be competing one against the other, one state against the other each state against the united states government and against the 150 governments around the world that are competing for those goods as well. we need to protect the united states prayed he has the power to do that. i implore him to take up the defense production act and utilize it from industry to industry. >> with some continuing to congregate in outdoor spaces and th

canada has a defense production act with similar powers. are you considering using them and under what circumstances? p.m. trudeau: yes, we are considering any measures necessary to ensure canadians and our health care systems have the support they need. we have been engaged with industry on production and ramping up capacity to build and create more equipment. we will look at military procurement as a solution as well. there is a range of things we can do and we will do what is necessary. [speaking french] [speaking french] [speaking french] as we said, we are going to work very hard to bring canadians home. it is time for canadians to come home from around the world. we recognize that will be a challenge. that is why we sent out a text message to all canadians overseas with information on how to share their situation and get in touch with consular services. i spoke yesterday with the heads of our two large airlines to talk about how we can work with them to ensure there are flights to bring canadians home. we will continue to respond to -

president trump invoked the defense production act to expand production of medical equipment to combat the coronavirus outbreak. >> we've never had to even think in terms of these numbers, but we need millions of masks and all of that will be ordered. we need respirators. we need ventilators is a big thing because it's a complex piece of equipment. >> reporter: the president also announced two hospital ships will be mobilized to ease the strain on health care systems. the usns comfort will be heading into new york. >> it's in for maintenance in norfolk. they're going to expedite the maintenance they can and prepare it. that's not a days issue, that's a weeks issue. so it's going to be a little while. >> reporter: earlier in the day, the u.s. and canada agreed to close the northern border to nonessential traffic. >> it's not pertaining at this moment to trade between the two countries. >> reporter: the treasury department would like to start issuing direct payments to americans by next month based on income and family size with a second wave of payments in may but congress must still ap

the president should invoke the defense production act.her than gaby at her sewing machine, it should be the president calling a virtual summit of the business leaders of america and telling them that his own department of health and human services says that we need 3.5 billion masks to get through this pandemic. 3.5 billion, not millions, not we just found 100,000 and we're sending them into this state, 3.5 billion. so he has to enlist corporate america using the defense production act and telling them that he's not going to stand up until they tell him how those masks, how those ventilators, how those tests are going to be manufactured in america over the next month, and if there's no plan then he will not rest until he has one for the american people. otherwise we're going to have 10-year-olds like gaby, a real hero, knowing that there's a problem in her own neighborhood. i had a nurse today who told me that because they didn't shut down the beaches in florida, up in boston and new york city, that they might as well be handing out packe

it's unclear even with the productionnving the defense production act whether he beliefs and will fillhe orders and" coming across the country. robert: many of the requests came and governors are paying attention to small businesses. and they're wondering will this legislation enable th businesses to get the loans as soon as possible? because the economy in their view is on a knife's edge. >> yeah, there's an important provision here. and anybody who is a small business owner needs know this it is an expansion of the p 7-a logram. what it does is somethi radical -- radical and new in american legislation and in the economy. it's in essence free money for b smallinesses if they agree not to lay anybody off over a period of time. you get an eight-week loan of up to $10 million for 500 employees or less. i andyou haven't laid anybody off, you go get keep the money. that's free money. we've never seen anything like that before in american economics. it's going to be a fascinating moment. there are some particulars to the bill that small businesses are going to need to paynt atn to. but thi

anyway on a serious note they did to me just give me a little idea of the defense production act and why it is so important we are engaged in the most significant industrial mobilization since world war 2 we have a wartime president fighting an invisible enemy and we have the full force of government coupled with the full power of private enterprise bearing down on this problem for the american people sir where we had to do today with president trump's order with respect to general motors i want to give you a little background on that. we need industrial mobilization to make adequate ventilators particularly in the very short run to help the people in new york detroit new orleans chicago denver seattle all around this country as this virus bears down the ventilators really are the most important thing for patients who become most seriously ill they're literally the lifeline for people and i've personally been working with thema and i've been working with h.h.s. and over 10 ventilator companies making sure we can get what we need as quickly as possible and virtually every one of those

are they invoking the defense production act with respect to 3m?\ 3m?rspective -- with respect to 3m? mike: we have been working very closely with the administration. the amendment which enabled us to deliver our industrial rep raters -- industrial respirators to health-care workers on the front line, that was the first big step. the defense production act has really enable us to work together on making sure we are getting the respirators to the most critical needs around the country. our teams are working together with fema, with health and human services, making sure we delivering where the needs are greatest. it is a partnership that has really been very effective as we have come through the month of march. david: you are at the center of a true global crisis. what in your past experience may have prepared you for this, or prepared 3m for this unprecedented demand? not just demand, but need for the health and safety of the mark in public? coming through sars and h1n1, we are a critical provider of these, and need to be able to lead in times of crisis