US customers of medical supplies — masks, PPE, ventilators — were VERY late to put in orders relative to overseas customers. Today, American manufacturers are having to balance foreign customers who put orders in early and US customers who put in orders late. 1/7

I get that to some the solution is really easy: blow off foreigners & produce for the US only. But it’s not that easy. For 1, supply chains — for very sound & beneficial reasons — extend overseas. That’s a strength, not a waekness. 2/7

Second, if we cut off foreign customers of US production, foreign countries will likely cut off US customers of their production — not just now but in the future. 3/7

It’s not as important as the health toll, but it’s also not great to signal to the world that US producers will be unreliable in a health crisis. That will cost them customers AND/OR force them to shift more production overseas, which I know you don’t want. 4/7

The long-term solution is much better planning from US authorities — HHS, FEMA, states, hospitals, suppliers; and much better global coordination and planning from major producing countries + WHO. 5/7

In the meantime — TODAY — the best solution is to coordinate the delivery of scarce resources to the acute crisis regions while also increasing production. I’m not a logistics expert, but it seems like better allocation if resources is still possible with federal leadership. 6/7

It’s possible to solve this problem — raising the supply of necessary medical supplies and saving lives without damaging and demonizing American businesses. 7/7