What is the Defense Production Act and why is Trump so resistant to using it to help hospitals?

Ventilators. Masks. Gowns. Gloves. Swabs. Health-care equipment large and small — all lifesaving — is in extremely short supply as American hospitals prepare to be overwhelmed by the coronavirus.

There’s a drastic wartime tool at President Trump’s disposal to force U.S. manufacturers to make this medical equipment, but Trump has been reluctant to enforce the Defense Production Act. He has been so inconsistent in his public statements on it that it’s hard to tell whether it’s in use even when his own FEMA director says it is.