As death rates from coronavirus rise, so do those frequent concomitants of calamity: protectionism and zero-sum struggles for advantage. Scrambling to obtain vital medical equipment from ventilators to face masks, several countries or regions have alleged shipments destined for them were mysteriously diverted elsewhere — mostly to the US. The White House has denied “piracy”, insisting instead it is trying to clamp down on it. Some US state governors have accused foreign governments of similar skulduggery. Evidence is often murky. Ensuring life-saving equipment gets to where it is needed, however, could hardly be more important.
The backdrop is serious shortages driving up prices. Many suppliers insist they are not price-gouging but reflecting soaring costs — again from the spike in demand — for raw materials. But those trying to source goods talk of bidding wars against other buyers, both with manufacturers and a web of brokers and distributors. Some Chinese manufacturers have told the FT they decide who to ship to by seeing whose money arrives first. Some governments complain their procurement rules bar such prepayments for goods.
Protectionism can go to the highest levels. Washington rang alarm bells this month when it invoked a law dating from the Korean war — the Defense Production Act— to order 3M to produce more of its sought-after N95 respirators. President Donald Trump also demanded the company stop selling the masks to Canada and Latin American countries. Dismayed Canadian officials talked privately of betrayal.