So Germany Just Accused Us of Piracy

The city of Berlin had ordered special FFP2 and FFP3 masks that are used to protect emergency staff and care workers from infection with coronavirus. The order was for 200,000 such masks, according to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel. Berlin's interior minister Andreas Geisel confirmed that the consignment had been “confiscated” in Bangkok and never reached Berlin.

“We consider that an act of modern piracy,” he said. “You don't treat your transatlantic partners like that.” The confiscation came to light after the White House tried to force 3M to export masks to the US from its hub in Singapore, as the federal government exerts its powers to secure critical medical supplies and gear needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus and treat infected patients.

Expressing frustration over the seizures, Mr Geisel said that despite the crisis, the “methods of the Wild West” should not prevail, and called on the German government “to press the US to stick to international rules.”