Newsom’s secretive $1-billion mask deal with Chinese automaker sparks bipartisan concerns
https://news.yahoo.com/newsoms-secretive-1-billion-mask-190626226.html
BYD, a Shenzhen-based company whose initials stand for “Build Your Dreams,” has staked its reputation on building electric vehicles. It has a U.S. subsidiary based in Los Angeles, with a vehicle manufacturing facility in Lancaster. The company currently employs about 1,000 people in California, a company spokesman said.
Exactly how BYD has converted some of its manufacturing efforts in China to begin producing protective masks is unclear. On March 13, it touted the creation of “the world’s largest mass-produced face masks plant” in a news release posted on the company’s website. The company announced that it would make 5 million masks a day — far surpassing the 100 million masks a month promised by 3M, the company best known for producing N95 masks, used to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A spokesman for BYD referred all questions about negotiations over the purchase of masks to Newsom’s office.
Newsom and other top officials have described the gambit as straightforward: Leverage the state government’s purchasing power, backed up by a multibillion-dollar cash surplus, to buy 200 million masks a month. The masks would then be distributed to healthcare and emergency workers across California, a supply chain that would continue through the end of June.
Administration officials have said that each monthly shipment from BYD will contain 150 million N95 masks and 50 million surgical masks.
“We made a big, bold bet on a new strategy, and it is bearing fruit,” Newsom said on April 8.
That same day, The Times asked for a copy of the contract to purchase the masks. On Monday, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services delayed responding to the request until May 4.
BYD is well known in California government circles. In 2013, then-Gov. Jerry Brown announced the company’s decision to build electric buses in Southern California during a trade mission to China. It was a key component of the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, he said.
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Newsom’s secretive $1-billion mask deal with Chinese automaker sparks bipartisan concerns
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remember when Barr said he had a list of governors that were china-lovers??
Do I really need an /sarcasm tag?