3M 'Will Have A Big Price To Pay,' Trump Says Of The Mask Maker As He Imposes Defense Production Act

President Donald Trump criticized the mask maker 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM) in a tweet on Thursday.

What Happened

"We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their [masks]," the president said, referring to the Defense Production Act imposed earlier in the day. "Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing," he added. "[3M will] have a big price to pay!"

Trump had imposed the act which gives the federal government rights over managing operations of the company during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. State governors and healthcare workers across the country have frequently called on the federal government to ramp up the supply of protective medical gear, including masks.

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Why It Matters

The tweet came as the head of Florida's Division of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz told Fox News that 3M was prioritizing selling to foreign governments at the expense of American healthcare workers.

.@3M Hello again. Director of @FLSERT here. I have money, you have masks yet you won't sell them to me. Stop selling to foreign governments. @maddow @Forbes

— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 2, 2020

"For the last several weeks, we have had a boiler room chasing down 3M authorized distributors [and] brokers representing that they sell the N95 masks, only get to warehouses that are completely empty," Moskowitz said. "[We are] being told that our shipments are on cargo planes and the flights don't even appear. We are chasing ghosts. I just decided to turn up the heat and tell people what is actually happening in the N95 mask space."

Price Action

3M's shares closed 3.58% higher at $137.91 on Thursday. The shares were mostly unchanged in the after-hours session.