https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-ppe-kushner-1.5522094
The Trudeau government is looking to the relationships it established during NAFTA negotiations to resolve the urgent dispute over personal protective equipment with the United States.
According to senior sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Canadian politicians at different levels, and of different political stripes, will and have been reaching out to contacts in the U.S. to make Canada’s case to keep the flow of essential goods moving.
At the core of this push, sources say, is the prime minister’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, who is trying to leverage her relationship with the president’s son-in-law and special advisor Jared Kushner.
The overtures come after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to force Minnesota-based 3M to prioritize orders from the U.S. government for N95 respirators, at the expense of foreign orders. The protective masks are used by front-line health care workers battling the novel coronavirus.
During NAFTA negotiations, Telford developed a close working relationship with Kushner, to the point that they often exchange text messages.
In the U.S., Kushner has been criticized after he was assigned key responsibilities within the White House coronavirus task force.
Despite having zero experience in public health policy, and no experience with military operations, Kushner is helping with the marshalling of resources.