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[Reelya]

Trump put an export ban on 3M for sending any US-made N95 masks overseas, and stated that as a victory, saving masks for the US.

However, the real story was that 3M wasn't really planning on exporting them (well some were earmarked for Canada, and now the Canadians are pissed off), the actual story is that most of their masks are made in Singapore, and Trump had demanded these ones be sent to the US instead of their intended use in the Asia-Pacific region. So the export ban was merely point-scoring and retaliatory because 3M told Trump "no". A very petty misuse of his emergency powers right there. It has also been a handy way of the US administration letting their regional allies know that their lives don't count for shit.
 
Basically if there are more restrictions on where American companies can deploy US-made masks then that just means they won't end up wanting to make as many in the USA. And if the US puts export bans on N95 masks then that might cause other governments to impose similar restrictions on selling masks to the USA.

"The company was reluctant to accept the White House request on legal and humanitarian grounds, as medical workers across the region would be deprived of protection," a source told the Financial Times. "3M executives did commit to exporting a similar number of masks to the US from a plant in China but that did not stop the White House from publicly attacking the company."

“Over the last several days we've had some issues making sure that all of the production that 3M does around the world, enough of it is coming back here to the right places," White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said on Thursday.

[Doomblade187]

While I'm hesitant to wholeheartedly believe 3M, as the masks are obviously a large revenue source at the moment, I do believe their statement, which basically said, "An export ban would reduce the overall number of masks available to the US due to retaliatory action".

[wierd]

I need some popcorn...

[McTraveller]

Makes me sad that people retaliate over such things.  Seriously folks - can't anyone be better than?

It's just infantile.  I mean I'm all for rule of law, but sometimes you gotta just ignore the madmen.

[ChairmanPoo]

Are you serious? Its literally a life or death issue. People are dying, countries are outright poaching medical equipment. We should all count our blessings if there is no war in the coming months over all this shit (AFTER  all this shit is done and we hit depression? We'll see then. I think it's unavoidable there'll be war somewhere)

Right now it's impossible to know what awaits us at the end of the tunnel but international relations are at an all time low

[Jimmy]

Bad news for everyone looking for PPE, China has made new laws that pretty much halt all export of medical supplies from the country.

In response to this situation, the Chinese authorities issued an Order that tightly regulates the export of coronavirus medical devices and supplies from China. Under this Order, any Chinese exporter of listed medical devices must meet two requirements. First, the device must be registered in China through a Medical Device Product Registration Certificate. Second, the exporter must prove that the device complies with the regulations of the importing country as they apply to that device. Compliance with these requirements will be difficult or impossible for many otherwise legitimate Chinese manufacturers. This will constrict supply just when demand is exploding.

...

This Order raises three important issues. First, most Chinese manufacturers that manufacture medical devices for export do not bother to obtain a domestic Chinese registration. Since they manufacture exclusively for export, no such certification was ever required for their business and so they do not have one. This then means that most Chinese exporters of PPE and medical devices cannot comply with this Order. For example, The South China Morning Post writes that only 21 of 102 Chinese medical device companies with EU medical device certifications are licensed to sell their devices within China. In other words, 81 of these companies will now no longer be able to sell their medical devices to the EU.

We're in for a bad time, folks. The only companies who have the required licenses are now the companies that usually only sell their products to the domestic Chinese market. There's gonna be a heavy push for Chinese customs officials to clamp down hard on anything with the words 'medical' in the name, even including surgical masks and gowns. Expect anything that is "Made in China" to be "in China" only.

[McTraveller]

Humanity is really good at making bad situations worse, isn't it?

It's paradoxical too, because humanity is also extremely capable of making bad situations less bad.

[delphonso]

Now people are remobilizing in China, cases are increasing. It coincides with shutting the borders to foreigners. Plus there were a few actual stories of Italians and Americans coming here and being infected. I've had to explain myself just once or twice. But I'm not in a big city these days, so others might have a different experience. Can't blame people for being cautious, and haven't seen anything turn nasty.

On the plus side, I was given a QR code to scan which will show I've been in China for more than 2 weeks - checks passport number. This has been enough to get past any issues. That said, I'll be going to an embassy this week and that might be a whole different beast.

Is there any indication anyone's against the wet markets reopening?

Coalboat might be more in touch with that than me. Down here in Guangdong - absolutely none. But here, shutting down the wet market is effectively shutting down groceries. It's the primary and sometimes only option in smaller cities.

Bad news for everyone looking for PPE, China has made new laws that pretty much halt all export of medical supplies from the country.

In response to this situation, the Chinese authorities issued an Order that tightly regulates the export of coronavirus medical devices and supplies from China. Under this Order, any Chinese exporter of listed medical devices must meet two requirements. First, the device must be registered in China through a Medical Device Product Registration Certificate. Second, the exporter must prove that the device complies with the regulations of the importing country as they apply to that device. Compliance with these requirements will be difficult or impossible for many otherwise legitimate Chinese manufacturers. This will constrict supply just when demand is exploding.

...

This Order raises three important issues. First, most Chinese manufacturers that manufacture medical devices for export do not bother to obtain a domestic Chinese registration. Since they manufacture exclusively for export, no such certification was ever required for their business and so they do not have one. This then means that most Chinese exporters of PPE and medical devices cannot comply with this Order. For example, The South China Morning Post writes that only 21 of 102 Chinese medical device companies with EU medical device certifications are licensed to sell their devices within China. In other words, 81 of these companies will now no longer be able to sell their medical devices to the EU.

We're in for a bad time, folks. The only companies who have the required licenses are now the companies that usually only sell their products to the domestic Chinese market. There's gonna be a heavy push for Chinese customs officials to clamp down hard on anything with the words 'medical' in the name, even including surgical masks and gowns. Expect anything that is "Made in China" to be "in China" only.

I guess this is also a reaction to the bad press China (as a whole) is getting for Chinese products being insufficiently safe and checked.

[ChairmanPoo]

I guess this is also a reaction to the bad press China (as a whole) is getting for Chinese products being insufficiently safe and checked

Yes, thats certainly how the Chinese embassy in Spain was portraying it... not so much a sale restriction as an attempt to curtail defective products being out in the market (which is bad PR)

[Zangi]

Well, shutting down exports of unlicensed products doesn’t necessarily mean that China won’t fast track certification of the products.  But we will see.

[Reelya]

It's also excluding this fact:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-04/china-coronavirus-covid-19-medical-supplies-recalled-regulation/12105110

China's coronavirus supplies are being rejected — how do we ensure quality in a pandemic?
...
China's efforts to help haven't gone smoothly, as several countries have reported faults with Chinese-made supplies.

This began with Spain's recall of about 58,000 inaccurate rapid COVID-19 test kits late last week, and Turkey also casting aside a number of sample test kits that were faulty.

This was then followed last Saturday by a Dutch recall of some 600,000 face masks that didn't provide an airtight seal.

Australia also found fault with Chinese products, with Border Force officials telling the ABC on Wednesday that it seized around 800,000 personal protective equipment (PPE) products worth $1.2 million in recent weeks.

So only 3 days ago the news was asking how we can ensure that these Chinese medical exports are up to standard. Now, we're freaking out that the Chinese are going to impose conditions requiring exporters meet the standards of the nation they're exporting to. Can't win, basically.

EDIT: BTW Jimmy, you cut off the part of your quote that explains that the more stringent standards for PPE from China were "In response to this situation" which was the fact that "In Europe, huge quantities of Chinese coronavirus test kits and medical use masks have been rejected as defective". There's really no need to jump to the conspiracy theory that this move is to stop other people getting PPE, when a perfectly reasonable explanation is right in the article you linked. China has enough industrial capacity to make all the PPE they need, plus enough to export to make money and keep their economy afloat. They want to sell more PPE, but if they export faulty PPE, people will stop buying it. Export demand for a lot of stuff has already dropped. China has no issue with exporting PPE if that's what's going to keep factories open.

[Doomblade187]

Meanwhile in Georgia.

https://www.theroot.com/georgia-gov-brian-kemp-decides-this-is-a-good-time-to-1842704862

[coalboat]

Is there any indication anyone's against the wet markets reopening?

Coalboat might be more in touch with that than me. Down here in Guangdong - absolutely none. But here, shutting down the wet market is effectively shutting down groceries. It's the primary and sometimes only option in smaller cities.

This is true for older communes in Guangzhou. In Shenzhen (where I live) however the wet markets get fewer over the years. Most of the stores are supermarkets and small grocery stores with relatively clean floor.

[Starver]

Meanwhile in Georgia.

https://www.theroot.com/georgia-gov-brian-kemp-decides-this-is-a-good-time-to-1842704862

"Look... the beaches we officially closed are very empty, so we can officially open them up and they won't get any fuller...". That's how I read it.

(Like here in the UK, on a different issue, "Our motorways with a hard-shoulder for use only in emergencies are proven to be among the safest such roads in the world, so we don't see why converting that emergency lane into a full 'normal' lane permanently/intermittently would make the situation any less safe.")

[ChairmanPoo]

Is there any indication anyone's against the wet markets reopening?

Coalboat might be more in touch with that than me. Down here in Guangdong - absolutely none. But here, shutting down the wet market is effectively shutting down groceries. It's the primary and sometimes only option in smaller cities.

This is true for older communes in Guangzhou. In Shenzhen (where I live) however the wet markets get fewer over the years. Most of the stores are supermarkets and small grocery stores with relatively clean floor.

Hey, I was curious about something; are either you or delphonso Chinese, or are you from the US/Europe living in China?