A senior US official on Thursday rejected allegations from French politicians that Americans have been snapping up Chinese masks previously ordered by France amid the coronavirus crisis, calling the stories “completely false”, AFP reports.
The leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, accused unidentified Americans of swooping in with cash to secure shipments already promised to French buyers.
“We lost an order to the Americans who outbid us on a shipment that we had lined up,” said Valerie Pecresse, the chief of France's most populous region.
Pecresse claimed that while France pays on delivery for such supplies — crucial in the global fight against the pandemic — “Americans pay cash” without bothering to see the goods.
