The Trump administration and US manufacturer 3M have agreed to import over 166 million respirators from China in the next three months and allow 3M to continue exporting its US-made respirators.

The deal breaks an impasse which resulted in the US preventing almost three million of the specially designed face masks from being exported to Canada, triggering worries that the country's heavily populated Ontario province would be depleted of supplies for health frontliners fighting the spread of the deadly pandemic by end of the week.

Trump has disclosed during a health crisis task force meeting that his administration had a "very amicable" deal with 3M for the manufacture of an additional 55.5 million specialized face masks each month. 3M would make 166.5 million masks, most of them N95s, Trump stated.

A top White House official said the US decision to use the Defense Production Act was crucial to shifting its plan of negotiations between the two parties.

Trump criticized 3M last week for not moving all delivery home and used the 1950 DPA against the manufacturer. Some detractors accused the company of "unpatriotic conduct," as it proceeded to export N95 masks to other nations.

In response, 3M chairman Mike Roman said they share the same objectives of "giving much needed respirators to Americans across our country."

3M also stated that it's not going to stop selling US-made respirators to Canada and Latin America - a big subject of dispute with Trump last week spilling out into public.  According to Trump, his administration is "happy to be working with 3M now," and thanked Roman who was "very glad to get it done."

3M's masks, which filter out 95 percent of airborne particles and other elements, are used in the battle against the coronavirus as a vital defense for frontline healthcare workers. Yet as supply shrinks, countries and local governments are locked in a desperate struggle to obtain access to some equipment.

A shortage of critical equipment to protect nurses and doctors on the frontlines has been one of the biggest miseries of state and local health officials. The situation has become so dire that healthcare staff in New York have resorted to reusing masks that are meant for single-use only.

As a result, the mask industry was thrown into turmoil, with prices continuing to increase as countries and U.S. states compete for the same restricted supply. Doug Ford, Ontario's premier, said that half million pieces of masks had been cleared for release at a media briefing late Monday.