"President Trump also has mishandled our existing supplies of medical supplies. Our
review of previously unreported government trade data indicates that the value of U.S.
ventilator exports jumped 22.7% percent from January to February.3 We also found that
in February 2020, the value of U.S. mask exports to China was 1094% higher than the
2019 monthly average. Our findings correspond to documents revealed by
Congressman Lloyd Doggett, showing that as recently as March 2, the Trump
Administration was encouraging American businesses to increase exports of medical
supplies, especially to China.4 Yet, during this period, the U.S. government was well
aware of the harms of COVID-19, including a likely need for additional respirators and
masks.
The import data that we identified and reviewed also reveal that the Trump
Administration failed to prepare for COVID-19 and to protect the health of Americans.
From January to February, when the U.S. should have been stockpiling medical supplies,
the value of ventilator imports dropped by more than 10 percent. The data shows a
similar pattern with PPE and cleaning supplies, which fell by 11.3%, over $161 million,
from January to February 2020, and N95 masks in particular, which fell by 14.2%."