White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said brokers hoarding supplies to price gouge Americans will not be let off the hook during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
During a press conference on Sunday, Navarro gave a direct message to brokers who are allegedly hoarding tons of much-needed supplies to fight the coronavirus in attempts to price gouge.
“I also get a lot of calls that are very disquieting. Brokers are offering millions of items, whether they are goggles, masks, or whatever, and you go through three different brokers, tracing to a warehouse in [Los Angeles] that’s allegedly got ten million masks and they want to charge you seven times what they cost,” Navarro said. “That’s price gouging.”
“A message to the hoarders: If you’ve got any large quantities of materials that this country needs right now, get them to market or get them to us, we’ll pay you a fair price,” Navarro said. “But if you don’t do that, we’re going to come for you and make sure that doesn’t happen in this country.”
Most recently, a pair of brothers in Tennessee donated 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer that they had been allegedly hoarding, along with masks and cleansing wipes, in an attempt to price gouge Americans. The brothers are now under investigation.
Likewise, Breitbart News’s Bob Price reported that in Texas, hoarders are continuing to price gouge Americans despite the threat of prosecution. In just a few days, more than 300 complaints of price gouging in Texas had been filed with the state.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.