More time is needed to determine how the growing coronavirus epidemic will impact the economy, but meanwhile, the White House's task force on the virus is focused on being sure that the United States is prepared should the outbreak spread further, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Tuesday.
"I think we're going to need two to four more weeks to find out how much the contagion may or may not continue," Navarro told CNN's Poppy Harlow. "In the meantime, what I'm focused on here at the White House is looking at the supply chains for the kinds of elements we're going to need should we need to treat the coronavirus here."
Much of the U.S. medical supply has been offshore, he added, and "that's a dangerous risk that we face more broadly."
So now, efforts are underway to be sure that ventilators, antibiotics, and more are available — and the U.S. has "adequate stockpiles," said Navarro.
"The task force is doing a great job," he said. "It's a two-tier process where you have the task force itself with principals and then a second element, where you have deputy-level folks working, meeting every day."
Meanwhile, Apple warned that it may not meet its sales targets because of the epidemic and closures it's had in China, but Navarro said U.S. officials don't see the tech company as the norm when it comes to domestic industries.
"We have a really solid economy here," he said, adding that U.S. officials are seeing "absolutely" no bottlenecks with the supply lines.
However, more information is needed from China as the outbreak grows, said Navarro.
"One of the frustrations with China is it's really not shared the kind of information from day one that we really need to assess this," said Navarro.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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